As the World Trade Organisation (WTO) formally announced the appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as director-general this week, a Swiss newspaper received her with a disgraceful headline: “This Grandmother will become the boss of the WTO,” with her photograph under the headline.
The headline sparked an outrage, forcing the editors to modify their position: “This 66-year-old Nigerian will head WTO.”
At least three Swiss newspapers –
Luzerner Zeitung, Aarguaer Zeitung and
St Galler Tagblatt – fetched their headlines from the gutter, making slight changes only after they were called out for racism.
They removed the sting, but left the poison. That’s their grief. The candidacy of Okonjo-Iweala for the position of DG has been one of the most contentious in the history of the 26-year-old organisation. And partly for the sort of maliciously dumb reasons reflected in the headlines of the Swiss newspapers.
February 18, 2021: An update on vaccines, IDA20, new IFC head, my op-ed with Melinda Gates, and more
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Mari Pangestu
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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s triumph and lessons for Nigeria
On
By C. Don Adinuba
LIKE the rest of humankind, the government and people of Anambra State are delighted that Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has also been the Foreign Minister as well as the World Bank Managing Director, has finally emerged the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO. It is remarkable that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is the first African and the first female to lead this important organisation with 164 members and 24 observer governments which was formed on January 1, 1995 to regulate international trade.
Her triumph shows Nigeria’s foreign policy is regaining the dynamism of the past decades, as Governor Willie Obiano stated in three separate letters last October 30 to President Muhammadu Buhari; Foreign Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama as well as Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed. The Buhari administration has done three remarkable things since last year wh