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Why we are opposed to Okonjo-Iweala’s selection as WTO Director-General — U.S.

October 29, 2020 No Comments

The U.S. says it supports the Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee as the next WTO Director-General.

The United States’ government has explained why it is opposed to the selection of former Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The U.S. made its position known late Wednesday in a statement by the Office of the US trade representative on the WTO director-general selection process.

The United States said it supported the selection of Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee as the next WTO Director-General because she is “a bona fide trade expert who has distinguished herself during a 25-year career as a successful trade negotiator and trade policy maker.”

The statement said the minister has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organization.

“This is a very difficult time for the WTO and international trade,” the statement said.

“There have been no multilateral tariff negotiations in 25 years, the dispute settlement system has gotten out of control, and too few members fulfill basic transparency obligations.

Although the U.S. did not mention Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, it however said that “The WTO is badly in need of major reform. It must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field.”

Setback

This newspaper reported Wednesday that although she won the overwhelming support of the World Trade Organization’s 164 members, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s ambition suffered a setback as the United States failed to endorse her for the top job.

The former Nigerian minister had moved a step closer to becoming the first woman and the first African to be director of the global trade watchdog as she secured the support of a key group of trade ambassadors in Geneva.

But the U.S. raised last-minute objections to the process by which the new director general was being picked.
A spokesperson for the WTO on Wednesday said Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy would be put to a meeting of the body’s governing general council on November 9.

World News

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is new WTO Director-General; first African, first woman in post

October 28, 2020 No Comments

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the new Director-General at the World Trade Organization. She is the first woman, and the first Africa, to lead the institution.

Today’s announcement that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is to be the new director-general of the World Trade Organization is a tremendous boost for Africa and lines her up for one of the toughest jobs in the international system.

She will have to lead the charge for a revival of multilateralism, in the negotiating chambers of the WTO and for a better deal for developing economies, as well as for the practical matter of how reforming trade and patent rules can allow the distribution of life saving vaccines and therapeutics as the corona virus pandemic rips across the world on its second wave.

As the first woman and African to head the trade body, Okonjo-Iweala has shattered a couple of ceilings at the same time. She also has a chance to put Africa’s plans to build the world’s biggest free trade area on the top table, pointing to the productive and market opportunities on the continent.

At the same time, she has won the race for the job from hell. That much was clear when her predecessor Brazil’s Robert Azevêdo quit the post early after years of frustration at the logjams in negotiation on reforming the WTO.

Those negotiations have been made harder still by the eruption of a trade war between the US and China alongside sporadic outbreaks of economic nationalism across the globe.

Surely this must be the worst time to take over an organization dedicated multilateral trade agreements, the Africa Report asked Okonjo-Iweala during the campaign:

“Multi-lateralism has never been needed more than now. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that this is the time we need to act in solidarity to have multilateral solutions, because there are simply some things in the world that bilateral or even sub-regional solutions cannot solve.”

On the distribution of vaccines and drugs to fight the pandemic, Okonjo-Iweala said she would prioritize open access: “ Being involved in COVID-19 and vaccines now as the chair of GAVI and an envoy on the Act accelerator, I’m seeing it from the front lines and we want to make sure that we don’t have a situation where access to vaccines for other countries where they are not made is blocked … The world is so interconnected now that no one is safe until everyone is safe, and no country is safe until all countries are safe.”

This, she acknowledged, will take tough negotiations with the drugs companies and with national governments but she insisted it would take top priority: “This is an area where we really need to think through the trade regime and the rules that will govern these kinds of products, whilst respecting country’s desires to do a minimum for their security.”

Politics

What exactly do we produce aside ankara fabric?

October 15, 2020 No Comments

The present director general of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye stated that only 30% of medicines are produced in Nigeria while the remaining 70% are imported. Apparently, the statistic of drugs produced in the country is outrageously low. In my own view, I would say that this has been one of the major setbacks for pharmacists in the country and a reason why a youth like me will rather opt to study medicine.

Pharmacists, Virologists, Botanists, Biochemists, Chemists, Microbiologists and other related disciplines are needed around the world during a crucial period (pandemic) like this. However , in Nigeria, you see a Biochemist working in the bank as a cashier or in an organization as a personal assistant. Disciplines such as these do not just exist for people to be educated…more than that, it is because they have a purpose to proffer solutions which will make this space, “the earth” , a safe habitat for humans.

Who isn’t relevant? Which discipline isn’t relevant? Now we can see the lapses and downside of not maximizing the potentials of these professionals in Nigeria. Madagascar produced an herbal concoction to fight coronavirus with the support of its government. A similar kind of herbal concoction that Nigerian herbal practitioners produce in their homes to save cost. This calls for attention, how long do we wait before the government begin to explore the talents and brains displayed by its people?

Even a regulatory body like NAFDAC will take forever to approve a medicine or processed food. I must admit that at the moment, setting up a food processing company isn’t an option for me…perhaps, in future. At the moment, I will rather farm and sell the proceeds. Why do I say this? It feels like everything in Nigeria is politicised and being an employee isn’t as difficult as being an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur you try to set things up but what about the policies? Are there policies which will make entrepreneurs to thrive in their businesses and not create major setbacks?

The director general also stated that capital punishment will be the penalty for people who produce fake drugs. Of course over the years, the agency “NAFDAC” battled with this, even up till now. What about producing items without an approved NAFDAC number? That’s also an offence according to the rules laid down by NAFDAC but what do we see? We see so many entrepreneurs setting up businesses and not getting their commodities approved by NAFDAC when it is required. However desperation and survival reasons are given by entrepreneurs who take this risk.

If it is quite affordable to get a NAFDAC approval in the monetary aspect aside other requirements , I can bet that more people will venture into production. This will in turn drastically reduce the rate at which drugs are imported into the country. If the government doesn’t embrace and support local production, who will? Now the government spends millions to purchase surgical face masks and personal protective equipment for our health practitioners. What exactly do we produce in this country aside ankara fabric?