NIGERIAN ECONOMIST NGOZI Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed as the first female and first African head of the World Trade Organization by its 159 member-countries.
Dubbed “Okonjo the trouble maker” for anti-corruption efforts in Nigeria, her appointment was delayed because Donald Trump’s objected to her candidacy over concerns with her experience.
“WTO members have just agreed to appoint Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next director-general,” the global trade body said in a statement today, adding that the former Nigerian minister and World Bank veteran will take up her post on 1 March.
In a statement, Okonjo-Iweala said that a strong, more agile World Trade Organization will be “vital” for the planet’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
“A strong WTO is vital if we are to recover fully and rapidly from the devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic… we can collectively make the WTO stronger, more agile and better adapted to the realities of today,” she said.
Twice Nigeria’s finance minister and its first female foreign minister, 66-year-old Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been described as a trailblazer.
Aside from her time in public office, the development economist also spent a quarter-century at the World Bank – rising to be managing director and running for the top role in 2012.
“I think she has delivered, whether in Nigeria or in other countries where she worked,” Idayat Hassan of the Centre for Democracy and Development research and advocacy group told AFP.
Her bio
Born in 1954 in Ogwashi Ukwu, in Delta State, western Nigeria, her father is a traditional ruler. She spent much of her life in the United States, graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, where she sent her four children.
“She is not just liked in Nigeria, she is loved, because she is a symbol, and people are gunning for her because of what she represents for womanhood,” said Hassan.
Not everyone agrees her track record is impeccable.
“Okonjo-Iweala may have done some box-checking technocratic transparency reforms in her ministry but the fact is, nearly a billion dollars a month were going missing from oil revenues when she was finance minister,” said Sarah Chayes, author of ‘Thieves of State’, a book about corruption.
“I think it’s a shame she is even being considered for the role,” Chayes said in an interview last year.
“There is an appetite for this kind of good news story at a time when diversity issues are paramount, being female and black doesn’t hurt.”
Anti-corruption work
The former minister has portrayed herself as a champion against Nigeria’s rampant corruption – and says her own mother was even kidnapped over her attempts to tackle the scourge.
Okonjo-Iweala told the WTO last fall: “As we put it in my Igbo language, ‘Aka nni Kwo aka ekpe, aka ekepe akwo akanni wancha adi ocha’. If the right washes the left hand, and the left hand washes the right hand, then both become clean. This is a call for collective action.”
But critics insist she should have done more to stop it while in power.
“At the very least, she had the opportunity to resign from office and expose the corruption,” said Olanrewaju Suraju, from the Human and Environmental Development Agenda campaign group.
“Rather, she kept quiet and allowed high level corruption to fester under the regime, only to complain after leaving office.”
‘Boldness, courage’
Okonjo-Iweala has also brushed off claims she lacks experience as a trade minister or negotiator.
“I’ve been doing that all my life, working on trade policy issues,” she said during a webinar organised by Chatham House in July.
“Most of all,” she said, the choice for director general should go beyond technical skills, “you need boldness, courage”.
She was recently named the African Union’s special envoy to mobilise international support for the continent’s efforts to address the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
Okonjo-Iweala has warned that growing protectionism and nationalism have been spurred on by the crisis and insists barriers need to be lowered to help the world recover.
“One way to ensure the adequate supply and equitable distribution of vaccines is to remove some of the barriers created by intellectual property and technology transfer laws,” she wrote in April in Foreign Affairs magazine.
© – AFP 2021, with reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha
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