Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala Emerges As Sole Candidate For WTO Director-General Position

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has emerged as the sole candidate for the position of director-general at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The WTO said Dr Iweala who is a former Nigerian finance minister agreed to a second term for the organisation’s top job.

“Nominations for Director-General closed; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala confirmed as sole candidate,” the WTO said in a Saturday statement.

“Ambassador Petter Ølberg of Norway, Chair of the General Council, informed WTO members on 9 November that no further nominations for the position of Director-General had been received by the deadline of 8 November and that the incumbent Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is therefore the only candidate for the role.

“Director-General Okonjo-Iweala confirmed her willingness to serve a second four-year term in the role in a letter to the Chair on 16 September. On 8 October, the WTO formally commenced the process for appointing its next Director-General, with members given until 8 November to submit nominations.”

The WTO said the chair of the General Council will communicate the next steps in this process in the coming days.

“The process was led by the General Council Chair in accordance with the WTO’s “Procedures for the Appointment of Directors-General,” the organisation said.

Okonjo-Iweala’s present term will end on 31 August 2025.

Didactic Information Hut recalls that Dr Iweala had in February, 2021 emerged as the first woman and also African to lead the trade organisation.