VIEWS: Nigerians applaud ECOWAS endorsement of Okonjo-Iweala for WTO job

Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), endorsement of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, for the vacant position of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has been applauded by Nigerians.

This is contained in a document signed by Mahamadou Issoufou, ECOWAS president, on Friday.

Roberto Azevêdo became the sixth Director-General of the WTO on September 1, 2013, serving a four-year term which he completed in 2017.

But at a meeting of the General Council in February 2017, WTO members agreed by consensus to appoint Roberto Azevêdo as Director-General for a second four-year term, which started  on September 1, 2017.

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Assuming office for the second term, DG Azevêdo made a detailed presentation to the February General Council outlining the successes that the membership achieved since 2013 and his vision for the next four years he is rapping up by September 1, 2020.

His presentation is available here

Earlier on Thursday, June 4, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, had approved the nomination of Okonjo-Iweala, former coordinating minister for the economy, for the top WTO job.

Furtherance to its endorsement of Okonjo-Iweala, who who Issoufou referred to as a “fearless reformer,” ECOWAS has called on other African countries to back her to the WTO job.

Nigerians have also taken to Twitter to express pass comments on the latest endorsement of Okonjo-Iweala by ECOWAS. Below are their posts: