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The House of Representatives Tuesday unanimously endorseed the candidature of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Nigerian Minister of Finance for the position of the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 2021-2025.
It commended the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and Governments for their strong endorsement of Okonjo-Iweala.
The House urged President Muhammadu Buhari to further rally other African leaders to support her bid as the Director General of WTO and asked the Pan African Parliament to follow suit.
The Green Chamber also called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to interface with the governments of Egypt and Kenya to step down their candidates in the spirit of African oneness and reciprocity.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu at plenary.
Moving the motion, Elumelu noted that via the Marrakesh agreement of 15th April, 1994 and signed by 123 nations, the World Trade Organization came into existence replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
He said on 1st January, 1995 the agreement came into force with a mission of regulating international trades in goods, services and intellectual property between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing the adherence of participants to their agreements.
The Minority Leader noted that the Chairman of the General Council of WTO has announced the commencement of the process to replace the outgoing Director General Roberto Azevedo ,with the opening date for nomination set at 8th June 2020 and closing date for 8th July 2020.
Elumelu said he was aware that a distinguished Nigerian, two term Minister of Finance, one time Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Managing Director of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-lweala has been formally nominated by the Federal Republic of Nigeria to vie for the exalted position of the Director General of the WTO for the period of 2021-2025 and if successful will be the first female and first African to have occupied the office.
He expressed concern that: “It is the perfect time for Africa to assume leadership at the WTO and all concerned stakeholders must unanimously commit to achieving this.
“Aside Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-lweala, Africa has two other candidates from Egypt and Kenya and entering the race with three candidates from Africa will split Africa’s votes, which cripples the prospect of an African assuming the WTO position. Therefore, we must urgently reach out to the governments of Egypt and Kenya on the need to rally round a single candidate for the continent in the person of Dr. Okonjo-lweala”.
The Delta lawmaker recalled that: “In the past, Nigeria has staunchly supported the candidatures of other Africans to leadership position at multilaterals, including the candidacy of Late Boutros Boutros Ghali, an Egyptian national to become the Secretary General of the United Nations. A good turn deserves another and we must now unite the African continent and ensure cooperation amongst our countries to put the continent first”.
He acknowledged that having a Nigerian as the Director General of the WTO will further enhance the image of the country amongst the comity of Nations, hence the need to massively support Okonjo-lweala.
