WTO DG: Egypt Tackles Nigeria, Wants Okonjo-Iweala Disqualified

By Gideon Njoku

In a move that could stop the best person for the job from getting it, Egypt has kicked against the nomination of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to contest for the office of the Director General of the World Trade Centre. Egypt wants her nomination aborted.

Nigeria had, in a letter, dated June 4, addressed to the AU Embassies and Permanent Missions, withdrawn the nomination of Ambassador Yonov Fredrick Agah, and substituted him with Okonjo-Iweala.

But Egypt has cried foul. The country wants Nigeria’s nominee, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala disqualified. Reason: Belated nomination.

According to TheCable, Egypt has requested that her nomination to contest for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should  ignored.

The country said “member states of the African Union (AU) had been required to nominate candidates for the director-general position by November 30, 2019 — over five months ago.”

Egypt, in a letter to the candidature committee, the permanent mission of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the AU,  said the Office of Legal Consent opined that Nigeria’s nomination of a new candidate “is not in conformity with the executive council decision”.

In the letter, dated June 5, 2020 and seen by TheCable, the Egyptian mission urged the ministerial committee on candidatures to officially inform the African Group in Geneva that Abdulhameed Mamdouh of Egypt and Eloi Laourou of the Republic of Benin are currently the “only two endorsed African candidates”.

“During the ambassadorial level ministerial committee on candidatures meeting which was held on June 4, 2020, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) gave its legal opinion regarding Nigeria’s nomination of a new candidate to the post of WTO-DG, in which the OLC clearly highlighted that – from a legal point of view- such a nomination is not in conformity with the executive council decision EX.CL/Dec. I 090(XXXVI), since the council’s decision, had specifically endorsed the three names of candidates as submitted by the ministerial committee’s report after thoroughly examining the qualifications and professional experience of each of the three above mentioned candidates,” the letter read.

The mission urged the legal counsel office to provide its opinion on “the conformity of Nigeria’s new nomination with executive council decision no. EX1072 of July 2019, which requested member states to nominate candidates to the position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation by November 30, 2019.

“The conformity of Nigeria’s new nomination as presented in its note verbal with the rules of procedure of the ministerial committee, specifically rule 11, para (1), (2), (3), (4);

“If the new nomination – in the event it is submitted officially to the WTO in Geneva- could constitute a failure to comply with the decision of the executive council and be subject to sanction for non-compliance as mentioned in Rule I 6 of the rules of procedure of the ministerial committee.”

According to TheCable, the Mission, also, said it has started consultations with the Republic of Benin “with the aim of reaching a consensus on one African candidate between the only two currently endorsed African candidates and will communicate the outcomes of these consultations to the esteemed ministerial committee at the soonest possible date”.

The questions begging for answers are: why Nigeria waited for this long to make a substitution in its  nominee, if the country was aware of the time  frame? Or, is there a window for such substitution?

Whatever, not a few people see is as  unseriousness on the part of Nigeria, with some of them thinking it may be a ploy to embarrass Okonjo-Iweala.

“With her status and stature, it will be a big embarrassment to get if she loses at the election level. She has better reject the nomination”, one of them submitted. He thinks many countries could stand behind Egypt which, for now, seems better prepared with its candidate.

But another saw it as a gross failure of diplomacy. Unless the position has been ceded to Africa, the Continent would definitely lose it.

He said: “This is a gross failure of diplomacy.  The African Union should have had a consensus candidate before this. And, Nigeria should have worked out details before making a change. Now, it is like they are squabbling”.

But opinion is that Okonjo-Iweala is her own greatest asset. Her international reputation could pull it for her and Nigeria. Her work at both the World Bank and the International Monetery Fund, IMF, is a plus.

That aside, she also sits on the Board of China’s Development Bank and an Economic Adviser to the South African President. The two positions could, most likely, pull support for her.

If Egypt’s protest does not stop her,  she stands a good chance of heading the international body as the Director General.