The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to make every move necessary to ensure Nigeria’s candidate at the keenly contested position of Director General of World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala gets the exalted office.
Her emergence would reaffirm to the world that Nigerians, nay Africans are great people, a feat the world can confirm by our exploits. Okonjo-Iweala needs no introduction both within and outside Nigeria. She spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a Development Economist, rose to become the number two position of Managing Director, Operations (2007–2011) afterwhich she served two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria (2003–2006, 2011–2015).
The question now is not whether she qualified or capable of handling the task. This contest is an aspect of international politics and we all must go all out to play it. Okonjo-Iweala is a renowned global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with decades of experience, having worked in about five continents. Her exposure is incontrovertible.
Today, the world economy is on its knees now no thanks to the effect of the global pandemic otherwise called coronavirus. Over 850,000 lives were lost; about 25 million people were infected and over 400 million jobs and hundreds of millions of informal economy livelihoods lost all to the scourge. This is the time we need Okonjo-Iweala who in time past has spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008-2009 food crises and later in the trying period of the global financial crisis to help navigate the storm.
