Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari to take over as director general of the World Trade Organisation, has sent a thank you message to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for endorsing her for the position.
Iweala, a two-time minister of finance in Nigeria, was nominated by President Buhari on June 5, 2020 to become director general of the WTO. The office is to run from 2021 to 2025, a period of five years duration. Her endorsement was signed by the President of ECOWAS, Mahamadou Issoufou.
According to Channels TV, ECOWAS, a regional body, took the decision after “acknowledging 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 endorsement was made known to Nigerians by Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs, on his twitter handle on Monday, June 22, 2020.
His tweet reads: “ECOWAS has formally endorsed Dr. @NOIweala for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation for the period of 2021-2025. Also called on other African and Non-African countries to do same.”
In her reaction to the endorsement, she twitted on Monday night: “A big thank you to the Economic Community of West African States @ecowas, cedeao for supporting my candidacy for DG.”
While some Nigerians said they trust her for the job and that they were proud of her, others said she should first of all thank President Muhammadu Buhari for the nomination for the plum job.
Read what they said:
Suleiman Suleiman said “Ma, I think you should equally come out thank the Mr. president for nominating you.”
Kunle@Kunle11111, said: @NOIweala But you failed to thank @MBuhari for nominating you. To the extent that your IPOB supporters are even denying the President’s nomination. You are part of the problem.”
Another who goes with the name Major General Bazo @Ibnbazo said: @NOIweala, Please I think the first person you should thank is Mr. President for nominating you first. Because without his effort you are going nowhere.”
