‘Utterly Ridiculous, Not True‘ – Okonjo-Iweala Dismisses Rumours Of Planning To Quit WTO Job To Run For Nigeria’s Presidency

By Edna Wande On Oct 1, 2021

Director General of World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has declared that she is not interested in running for 2023 presidency, describing the rumours as “utterly ridiculous and not true.”

Okonjo-Iweala spoke in reaction to the rumour that she is considering the possibility of resigning her WTO job barely seven months into her 4 1/2-year term, according to Bloomberg News.

Rather, she said;

I just got here. I am enjoying what I’m doing. It is a very exciting job and I am trying to have some successes here.

According to the New York-based publication, the WTO boss began the year with “a plan to score quick negotiating victories that she said would help reboot the dysfunctional Geneva-based trade body”, but she has fully grasped the frustrating reality of the WTO’s historical inertia.

This year, Okonjo-Iweala has repeatedly told ambassadors and staff that she could easily walk away from the job, and reminds them she hasn’t bought any furniture for her temporary home in Geneva, five trade officials in Geneva who declined to be identified said.

An early departure of the WTO’s top trade official would add yet another layer of chaos to an organisation suffering from an existential crisis that may lead governments to conclude the WTO is not a credible forum for addressing their shared challenges.

Deep divisions and a lack of trust are not new for the WTO, which requires consensus agreement among all 164 members to finalise multilateral accords.

The WTO’s rigid negotiating structure and disparate interests of its diverse membership have precluded the organisation from delivering anything substantial for the better part of the past decade.

Last year, Okonjo-Iweala’s predecessor — Roberto Azevedo — cited the lack of progress at the WTO as his primary reason for resigning from the organisation a year before his tenure was scheduled to end.

Some Geneva trade officials told Bloomberg News that they suspect Okonjo-Iweala wants to run in the 2023 presidential election in her native country of Nigeria.

Okonjo-Iweala didn’t comment about her threats to resign but denied any interest in running for the Nigerian presidency, calling such speculation “utterly ridiculous and not true” during a television interview with Bloomberg News.

The true test of Okonjo-Iweala’s leadership will come in November, when she hosts the WTO’s 12th ministerial conference — a gathering of the organisation’s highest decision-making body.

WTO members have failed to make significant headway on the three priority areas Okonjo-Iweala identified for potential outcomes at the biennial meeting.

They are: an agreement to curb harmful fishery subsidies; a pledge to reduce trade-distorting agricultural policies; and a framework to expand global trade in vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.