When President Muhammadu Buhari endorsed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) top job, Egypt went on the offensive.
Citing an executive decision of the African Union (AU) which had set a deadline of November 30, 2019 for African countries to nominate candidates, Egypt made the extraordinary claim that even Yonov Frederick Agah — Nigeria’s permanent representative to the WTO who was earlier nominated for the director-general’s position before his name was substituted — was no longer qualified to run.
In a letter to the AU, Egypt said Nigeria’s nomination of a new candidate “is not in conformity with the executive council decision”.
OKONJO-IWEALA’S NOMINATION VALID
While Egypt argues that Okonjo-Iweala came in five months late, TheCable checked the WTO guidelines for the nomination of candidates and found that her nomination is right on time.
According to the WTO, “General Council Chair David Walker of New Zealand informed members on 20 May 2020 the appointment process for the next Director-General would formally commence on 8 June with nominations accepted from that date until 8 July.”
This means nominations are still open till July 8, 2020 — over a month after Okonjo-Iweala was endorsed by Buhari.
More so, the AU has no role to play in determining the validity of nominations — it is the job of WTO — although the sense of African solidarity would be valuable at the vote.
It is highly unlikely that the AU would fail to recognise Okonjo-Iweala as Nigeria’s candidate.
Egypt said in its letter that it was already in talks with the Benin Republic to allow Africa present a single candidate.
All of that has become all the more complicated as Kenya’s Amina Mohamed has now raised the number of nominees from Africa to four.
HOW THE CANDIDATES STAND
No African has been elected DG of the WTO since it was founded 25 years ago. The organisation is currently a battlefield for China and the United States, which have also not produced a DG since WTO’s inception.
TheCable reviewed the profiles of the candidates from Africa to see how they stand on the world stage. Here is what we know about Okonjo-Iweala and the Egyptian contender.
ABDULHAMEED MAMDOUH
| COUNTRY | EGYPT |
|---|---|
| Age | 66 |
| Occupation | Lawyer, diplomat |
| Current job | Senior Counsel at King & Spalding LLP |
| Education | Juris Doctor degree at Cairo University |
| Previous international jobs | Director of the Trade in Services and Investment Division of the WTO; secretary of the WTO Council for Trade in Services since the establishment of the WTO in 1995. |
| Previous local jobs | Trade negotiator with the diplomatic service of Egypt |
| Current international jobs | Visiting Professor at Queen Mary London University |
| Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award by The Coalition of Service Industries |
| Selling point | Experience at the highest level of the WTO |
| WTO experience | Worked at the WTO from inception in 1995 till October 2017 |
| Quotable quote | “Successful relationships don’t only depend on the extent to which we agree, but mostly on how we deal with our differences.” |
| Quick fact | Speaks Arabic, English and French |
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA
| COUNTRY | NIGERIA |
|---|---|
| Age | 65 |
| Occupation | Development economist, diplomat |
| Current job | Chair, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance |
| Education | Bachelor’s in economics from Harvard University and PhD in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Honourary degrees from over a dozen universities worldwide. |
| Previous international jobs | MD of the World Bank; co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation; UN Secretary General’s high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda |
| Previous local Jobs | Two-time minister of finance in Nigeria; minister of foreign affairs. The first female to take up both jobs. |
| Current International Jobs | Board member at Twitter, Standard Chartered Bank, and African Risk Capacity; co-Chair of the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate; member Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) international advisory board; IMF external advisory board; AU special envoy. |
| Awards | Global Finance Minister of the Year 2005 by Euromoney; Top 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2014 by TIME Magazine, 2014; Top 100 Global Thinkers 2011, 2012 by Foreign Policy; the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World by Forbes Magazine 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014; National honours from Nigeria, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire. |
| Selling point | Experience at the highest level of the World Bank, and easily one of Africa’s most trusted technocrats |
| WTO Experience | None |
| Quotable quote | “The best way to help Africans today is to help them to stand on their own feet. And the best way to do that is by helping create jobs.” |
| Quick fact | Kidnapper who held her mother captive requested her resignation as minister of finance for her role in seeking transparency with fuel subsidy payment in Nigeria. She refused. |
