President Buhari nominates Okonjo-Iweala for WTO position

President Buhari nominates Okonjo-Iweala for WTO position

- President Buhari has nominated Okonjo Iweala for the position of director-general of the WTO

- The president reportedly withdrew the candidacy of Yonov Frederick Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO

- Okonjo-Iweala was the finance minister under the Jonathan administration

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President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly approved the nomination of former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, for the position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The Cable reported that Iweala’s nomination was approved by the president on Thursday, June 4.

Breaking: President Buhari nominates Okonjo-Iweala for top position
The former minister of finance is a globally respected economist. Photo credits: Ted talk/Pulse.ng
Source: UGC

The online newspaper stated that Buhari withdrew the candidacy of Yonov Frederick Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO, for the same position.

The election for the position is scheduled to hold in Geneva, Switzerland in 2021 for a four-year term that would run from 2021 to 2025.

Okonjo-Iweala was the finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy under the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration.

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She is a globally respected economist and development expert, who once served as Managing director of the World Bank.

The former minister was recently named into the special committee of the African Union (AU) to mobilise international support for Africa over the economic challenge of the COVID-19 crisis.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa president, who is also the chairman of the African Union, made the announcement in a statement.

The special envoy, which also has Donald Kaberuka, Tidjane Thiam and Trevor Manuel, will be charged with the task of putting efforts together to ensure that G20, the European Union and other international financial institutions, fulfil its pledge to Africa.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Assembly, is once again, saddled with the responsibility of coming up with a legislative initiative that would help rejuvenate the nation's economy and help Nigerians overcome the economic downturn that would likely occur after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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One swift step that must be taken by the National Assembly, is to give serious attention to, and speedily pass the local content enforcement bill.

The bill which is known as, the Nigerian Local Content Development and Enforcement Bill 2020, passed second reading on the floor of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, May 19.

Amongst other things, the bill seeks to expand the scope of local content in the extant NOGICD Act, thereby putting the Nigerian economy in the hands of Nigerians, creating jobs and enhancing the value of indigenous businesses in the post-COVID-19 era.

Spokesman of the House, Honourable Benjamin Kalu, while analysing the general principles of the bill on Monday, May 25, said the idea of local content bill or policy was to encourage local participation, ownership and control of certain key sectors by indigenous businesses.

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