By Olusegun Olanrewaju
For Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, it’s a dramatic rise to the top as the Director-General of the multi-lateral trade system, World Trade Organisation (WTO).
If she eventually succeeds in clinching the top job, she becomes the first Nigerian or West African to head the global trade organisation.
Other candidates who initially ran alongside Okonjo-Iweala during the nomination stage of the 164-country strong WTO which closed on July 18, 2020 were Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt), Amina Mohamed (Kenya), Jesús Kuri (Mexico), Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova), Yoo Myung-hee (Korea), Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri (Saudi Arabia), and Liam Fox (UK).
The dramatic rise
Okonjo-Iweals’s rise has become dramatic because former American President, Donald Trump, had strongly opposed her candidature.
But it seems with the new development, the new Biden administration in the United States is poised to redefine its goals in the African region, courtesy of its new policy deal on diplomacy.
The coast to WTO leadership became clear for the former World bank Managing Director, Okonjo-iweala, with the withdrawal of South Korean candidate, Yoo Myung-hee.
The withdrawal of Myung-hee, South Korea’s Trade Minister, now effectively leaves Okonjo-Iweala, as the sole candidate left in the race, which became open with the resignation of Roberto Azevedo as WTO director-general.
Opposition
The race has not been a smooth one for Okonjo-Iweala. The United States claimed that Okonjo-Iweala lacked first-hand experience in trade and trade policy.
In the build up spanning a gruelling two months of interviews and consultations, according to Forbes Magazine, the WTO General Council was expected to make its final choice by recommending Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its next director-general.
If that had been done, Okonjo-Iweala would have become the first woman and African to lead the WTO ‘without opposition’.
The Chair of the WTO General Council, David Walker, had said, “She clearly carried the largest support by members in the final round and she clearly enjoyed broad support from members from all levels of development and all geographic regions and has done so throughout the process.
‘’However, there is one influential member-state that does not support her candidacy: the United States.
Not long after the WTO’s announcement, the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lightizer, expressed its dissent in a statement, arguing that Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea, the other runner-up for the post, is more qualified. The statement said that the WTO “must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field.”
WTO Chief : Trump’s Anti- Nigeria Sentiments Unveiled As US Blocks Okonjo-Iweala
The journey
The dramatic rise started on October 28, 2020 when Okonjo-Iweala secured the popular vote, by a wide margin, but could not claim outright victory because of the opposition by the Trump administration in the US.
The US leadership then had claimed that it was opposing Okonjo-Iweala because of the need to have an experienced field staff to drive reforms in the global trade organisation.
The resignation of Azevedo had triggered a leadership vacancy in the organisation. In fact, at a press conference at the South Korean capital, Seoul, Minister Yoo had told reporters that the future of the organization had become uncertain. She confirmed Washington’s preference for her candidature, so on November 20, 2020 unconfirmed reports went round that Okonjo-Iweala had chosen to back out of the race. But announcing her withdrawal on February 5, 2021, Yoo said, “To speed up the consensus-building among the member countries on selecting a new director-general, I have decided to renounce my candidacy through close cooperation with the United States, our strong ally.
“Washington, which showed strong support for my candidacy, also respects the decision to step down from the race.” Okonjo-Iweala is not un unknown face in the multinational economic system.
The 67-year-old Nigerian-born economist and international development expert sits on the boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the African Risk Capacity (ARC).
The former Nigeran finance minister had also spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, scaling the ranks to the Number 2 position of Managing Director, Operations (2007–2011).
She also served on the advisory board of the Clinton Global Initiative, the ONE Foundation, the Global Development Network, and the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. Dr Okonjo-Iweala is the founder of Nigeria’s first ever indigenous opinion-research organization, NOI-Polls.
As the minister of finance for Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala was credited with helping the Africa’s largest economy to grow an average of 6% (per annum) over three years.
She was also credited with developing reform programmes that helped improve governmental transparency and stabilizing the economy.
Okonjo-Iweala was the first female finance minister and foreign minister in Nigeria, a West African country with a GDP of $502 billion, under the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Will she finally get it?
Traditionally, the WTO General Council picks its Director-General via consensus.
Her vision
In the heat of the race for the post of director-general, Okonjo-Iweala shared her vision with WTO members.
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Speaking at the meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Okonjo-Iweala said “WTO needs leadership and it needs someone able to bring a bundle of qualities – political ability and ability to reach decision-makers. International contacts, I have that. Managerial capability from my long years in a multilateral organisation like the World Bank.
‘’The ability to forge consensus, to negotiate, a reformer. I have an established reputation as a strong reformer both at the World Bank and also in my country. I’ve even written a book about it.
“So, I think together I bring a bundle of qualities – public sector, private sector – because you need to know how do businesses see the WTO and what needs to be done. What about micro-medium and small enterprises? Just to find out what it means to be a small-medium enterprise owner, I started one myself in Nigeria to see what are the obstacles in the way that you need to clear out.
“So, I’m a doer. I’m solution-oriented and pragmatic. I bring together the bundle of qualities and the leadership acumen that you need to lead this. So, I would hope that if selected from the African continent, it should be me.”
