Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a renowned Nigerian economist and former Minister of Finance has made history once again by emerging as the sole candidate for the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) director-general position.
She’s seeking a second term, having been initially appointed on February 15, 2021, with her term set to expire on August 31, 2025.
As contained in a statement on the WHO’s website on Saturday, she confirmed her willingness to serve a second term of four years on September 16 with no other nominations received by the November 8 deadline, standing as the only contender..
This was affirmed by the WTO’s General Council, Petter Olberg, in a message to members, that no additional nominations were received by the November 8 deadline.
“Under the procedures for the appointment of Directors-General (WT/L/509), I am required to communicate to members a consolidated list of candidates received for the post of Director-General immediately after the close of the nomination period, in this case 8 November 2024.
“I would like to advise members that at the end of the nomination period, the only candidacy received for this post is from Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the incumbent director-general.
“The notification received from Dr Okonjo-Iweala pursuant to paragraph 12 of the procedures in WT/L/509, was circulated to all members together with my communication in document JOB/GC/406, dated 16 September 2024.”
As the first woman and African to lead the WTO, Okonjo-Iweala has broken barriers and achieved numerous milestones.
Her impressive career spans 25 years at the World Bank, where she rose to become Managing Director for Operations. She also served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister and briefly as Foreign Minister in 2006.
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Jerome Kalu
Jerome Kalu is currently the Senior Correspondent of PIJAlance in Lagos. He was previously the Campus Information Desk (CID) Editor.