There is anger and condemnation in Nigeria over US action blocking the nomination of Nigeria’s former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo Iweala to head the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Daybreak recall that on Wednesday the WTO nominations committee appointed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to lead the 164 members global trade arbitrator but shortly after the nomination a high-level US trade representatives said the country will not back Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy, citing displeasure with how the selection process has been carried out.
The US stance is a major clog to the emergence of Okonjo Iweala.
Reacting to the development a developmental economist and Managing Director of a Fintech company, Kese Nigeria Limited, Mr. Okey Durumba said the development and opposition of the United States to the nomination was unfortunate. “She is at the cusp of history and would be the first woman and first African to lead the global body. Why the US is opposed to her nomination is something that beats imagination, after all she is a US citizen. Recall that she took US citizenship in September last year and we would have expected that the Trump administration would have given her the required support for her to scale through”
Also speaking on the issues an international affairs specialist and lecturer in the University of Abuja, Prof. George Adekunle said he was not surprised by the opposition to her candidature by the US.
“The US, since the Trump administration has been very vehement and critical of the World Trade Organisation and its handling of global trade which it believes has helped China to grow in expense of the United States. Trump is in support of another woman. Trump has thrown the weight of the US behind South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee. He believes she is a better candidate and by better candidate he means the US would be able to manipulate her to do their biddings which obviously would be in the in the interest of the US not of the rest of the World.
South Korea and the US have a very deep relationship dating back to the Second World War, in fact the US has a permanent military base in South Korea. I knew all along that there was no way the US would have supported our own Okonjo Iweala against the South Korean candidate. Now if you even look at the credentials of both women Okonjo is more qualified, she has seen it all having worked in the World Bank and also on the board of some global institutions.
He however said that the US opposition is null and void because the emergence of Okonjo Iweala was based on the consensus of other member states of the WTO.
The WTO Head of Delegation have met, that meeting took place yesterday and the result and final outcome of the meeting is the last round of consultation in accordance with the rules and regulations guiding the selection process of the DG of the WTO. The US has registered its opposition to the emergence of Okonjo Iweala and that is all. It is within their rights to do that but it is not going to change anything bacause all other members were in agreement with the selection process and her emergence. The US is alone.
The General Council Meeting is scheduled for November 9 to rectify the appointment of a new DG and if that fails the council will resort to voting and I am sure Okonjo Iweala will still emerge judging by the number of states lining up behind her”.
Also talking on the manner an Abuja based legal practitioner and public affairs analyst John Ogunlela the position of the United states only goes confirm its long standing policy.
“It is not about President Trump, remember that during the Obama administration the US supported a South Korean candidate against the same Okonjo Iweala to emerge as President of the World Bank. Most Nigerians are blaming Donald Trump on this Okonjo Iweala thing because they don’t understand the real character of the United States of America. They don’t know that they are not hearing the voice of Trump but of the fearsome entity called the USA, as enshrined in the carrier civil servants of the State Department, who, along with a few nationalist thinkers believe that the core of the intellectual community spread across the university campuses run the spirit of United States.
The foreign policy of the USA is based on primacy. It is so based on primacy that even the European Union knows it is dealing with a demon in that respect. It is the reason a country like Russia pursues a counterbalancing policy by choice and Germany, Europe’s economic and manufacturing powerhouse keeps its powders dry by making a point of maintaining good relations with Russia. The EU knows through the experiences of its vast stock of history that the goal of the USA is to enslave the whole world and make it do it’s bidding” he said.
