Buhari nominates Okonjo-Iweala as DG World Trade Organization

President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

This was seen in a tweet posted by the Presidential aide on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, in the early hours of Friday, June 5, 2020.

In the statement, Ogunlesi said that the current Director-General of the intergovernmental organization, Roberto Azevedo, is stepping down from his position on August 2020, a year ahead of the end of his tenure.

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Azevedo, who has been the head of the WTO since 2013, is stepping down at this critical period of global economic crisis and the trade war between the United States of America and China. The WTO head said this is the best way to avoid my chaos at the alliance, which has witnessed attacks from US President, Donald Trump.

This means that the election that was earlier scheduled for 2021 when his tenure was supposed to expire might be coming up much earlier for a new four-year term.

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Tolu Ogunlesi in his statement said, ”President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Okonji-Iweala as Nigeria’s candidate for the position of the Director-General of World Trade Organization. DG Azevedo is stepping down in August 2020, a year earlier, so the election of the new DG, originally scheduled for 2021, may take place much earlier”.

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President @MBuhari has nominated @NOIweala as Nigeria’s candidate for the position of DG of @wto.

DG Azevedo is stepping down in August 2020, a year early, so the election of a new DG, originally scheduled for 2021, may take place much earlier.

— Tolu Ogunlesi, MON (@toluogunlesi) June 4, 2020

Details later…

According to a monitored report, President Buhari withdrew the candidacy of Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO, Yonov Frederik Agah, for the same position.