WTO States Reason’s Why US should support Okonjo-Iweala

For the second time this year alone, the United States of America constituted a stumbling block to the aspirations of eminently qualified Nigerians to lead major international organisations. First, it was Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, whose second term bid as President of the African Development Bank, AfDB, was rejected by the US.

America had opposed Adesina on allegations of corruption by unnamed internal whistle-blowers. Adesina went on to win his second term after he was comprehensively exonerated. His first term track record earned him a landslide approval rating by the Bank’s stakeholders.

This time around, the US has also opposed the recommendation by the Nomination Committee of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, for the 164-member countries to appoint our former Finance and Economy Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as Director-General of the global organisation.

It took four months for Okonjo-Iweala to wade through the diplomatic labyrinths murky political waters to get to this threshold only to meet this (hopefully temporary) setback.

The US is sticking with South Korea’s Yoo Myung-Hee, the sole remaining challenger to Okonjo-Iweala. According to the office of the US Trade Representative which advises President Donald Trump, Yoo “has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organisation”.