The nomination of former Nigerian Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, for the position of Director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to reports, President Buhari withdrew for the same position, the candidacy of Yonov Frederick Agah; Nigeria’s permanent representative to the organisation.
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The letter stated:
The embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and permanent mission to the African Union (AU) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) presents compliments to all embassies and permanent missions in Addis Ababa and has the honour to inform that the Federal Government of Nigeria has withdrawn the candidacy of Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah for election to the position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Nigeria is therefore pleased to request the support of esteemed AU member states as well as permanent missions and embassies in Addis Ababa in favour of the candidacy of Okonjo-Iweala.
Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to the WTO, doubles as the Deputy Director-General of the organisation.
The former minister currently chairs the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
Appointed by South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa, in March, as a member of the country’s economic advisory council, Okonjo-Iweala also sits on the board of Twitter and is a former Managing Director (operations) at the World Bank.
Also, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva, named Okonjo-Iweala a member of the fund’s external advisory group.
Okonjo-Iweala is one of the four special envoys appointed by the African Union (AU) on April 12 to mobilise international support for its efforts toward addressing the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2012, she contested to become World Bank president becoming the first female and first black candidate.
She was listed among one of the top 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes four consecutive times from 2011 to 2014. She was also listed as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine in 2014.
