Who is afraid of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s nominee for the soon-to-be-vacant post of director-general of the World Trade Organisation? I ask this question because over the weekend, her media adviser, my long-time colleague, Paul Nwabuikwu issued a statement in which he alleged that some “powerful and well-connected forces” in Nigeria were working hard, manufacturing controversies, and “peddling outright lies” to sabotage Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s chances for the WTO top job.
To project Nigeria’s local politics unto the canvas of her bid for the WTO top job is yet another ugly manifestation of the Nigerian factor. Who the hell is behind this? Her media adviser did not tell us. There may be need in the future to name and shame those persons who stand in the way of Nigeria’s interest on the global stage.
But where are we at the moment? When I wrote the piece earlier referred to , there were just three candidates, but the list has since expanded. We now have a total of eight candidates vying for the position of the WTO director-general, namely Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala , Ms. Yoo Myung-Hee , Tudor Ulianovschi , Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh , Jesus Seade Kuri , Ms. Amina C. Mohammed , Dr. Liam Fox , and Mohammad Mazia al-Tualjri . Just take a look at that list. I don’t know what Liam Fox is doing there.
We need to get our acts together. To go back to the WTO matter, the selection process has become far more competitive than it was in June. This week, I understand the WTO General Council will begin to interview the eight candidates. Nigeria still has a chance to stand up for its candidate. Last week in this column, I wrote a tail-piece titled “Nimi Akinkugbe and the Indigeneship Question” .
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