World Bank selection a "hypocrisy test" Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian finance minister seeking to become the first non-American to lead the World Bank, has warned rich nations that the selection process will test their "level of hypocrisy." The World Bank presidency has always been in Washington's gift, thanks to the superior voting power of the US and support from other developed nations. But there has been a strong push from the emerging world for an open contest to choose a successor to succeed Robert Zoellick, which the main World Bank shareholders say they support. Ms Okonjo-Iweala, backed by African leaders, is one of three candidates vying to take over from Mr Zoellick when his tenure ends in July. "I would really hold the Bretton Woods shareholders to their word, that they want to change the way business is being done and want a merit-based, open and transparent process for the presidency," Ms Okonjo-Iweala told the Financial Times. "I just want to see whether people just say things with their mouth that they don't mean and what's the level of hypocrisy," she said in an interview. So we want to test that. Jim Yong Kim, the American health expert nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the bank, is expected to win the race in April. José Antonio Ocampo, the former Colombian finance minister, is also seeking the job. Ms Okonjo-Iweala said that developing countries outside the Group of 20 leading economies were eager for a strong say in how the bank is run, given its focus on development. "Many developing countries are very desirous to see this," she said. They may not necessarily be saying they support Okonjo-Iweala, but they will be saying we support a contestable process. Ms Okonjo-Iweala's backers insist she is a strong candidate. A former managing director of the World Bank, she earned widespread respect for helping win Nigeria debt relief during her first term as finance minister from 2003 to 2006. In 2011 she returned for a second stint, with the job of driving economic reform. I'm not a typical bureaucrat, and not a typical World Banker either. I've come in and out. Someone like me can hit the ground running. I don't have a steep learning curve. Since her return, the government has presided over the partial removal of a fuel subsidy that triggered nationwide, sometimes violent, protests. In a country where corruption is pervasive, there was widespread public scepticism over government pledges to put the money it will save to good use. Ms Okonjo-Iweala said she remained committed to her finance ministry job and to Nigerian reforms, despite her decision to accept the nomination after less than a year back in the post. She added that she had accepted the World Bank nomination reluctantly, after lobbying from the presidents of South Africa, Ivory Coast and the 54-state African Union. Ms Okonjo-Iweala said that if she got the job, she would ensure the bank became more nimble in providing finance and concentrate more on areas such as housing. The selection of Christine Lagarde to head the International Monetary Fund last year, maintaining Europe's hold on that post, suggests that changing the European and American monopolies on the leadership of the two Bretton Woods institutions may still be some way off. "I think that the World Bank matters so much to many of the world's poor, it matters so much to emerging market countries, so I think this time they need to get it right," Ms Okonjo-Iweala said. I can't do better than demand they stick to their words. If they fail then it will be for the world to judge them.