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| Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala |
In a
statement by ECOWAS dated June 19, 2020, and shared by the Foreign Affairs
Minister, Geoffrey Onyema, on
Twitter, the regional body said it took the decision based on the authority of
the Heads of State and Government of its member-nations. The statement signed
by the President of ECOWAS, Mahamadou
Issoufou, comes as a big boost to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy after the African Union (AU) had last week
rejected her nomination.
According
to the ECOWAS leader, the body’s endorsement of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also followed
the information it got from chairman of the General Council of the WTO
informing the regional body of her nomination alongside four others for the
role.
ECOWAS
said it also took the decision having “acknowledged the strong academic and
professional background of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and her very large experience in
national affairs as Nigeria’s Finance Minister (2003-2006) and Nigeria’s
Foreign Affairs Minister briefly in 2006.”
The
statement added that since the inception of the WTO, no African has worked as
the Director General of the body, making the endorsement more appropriate. Issoufou,
therefore, called on other African and non-African countries to back the former
World Bank Managing Director’s candidacy, saying Africa needs a strong
representative in the WTO election.
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