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Tuesday, February 23, 2021 /08:00 PM / by OpEd by Dr
Reuben Abati / Header Image Credit: WTO
The biggest piece of happy-ending
news in Nigeria in the month of February 2021 is the endorsement of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
as the next Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the
United States. The South Korean candidate for the position, Yoo Myung-hee whose
candidacy had enjoyed the backing of the United States under the Trump
administration, withdrew and the South Korean authorities have since pledged
their support for Dr. N.O. Iweala. The South Korean's earlier refusal to step
down had made it difficult for Dr. Iweala to be confirmed by consensus when she
got the majority of the votes at the end of the selection process in October
2020. The WTO chooses its Director General by consensus. The Trump administration
rejected Iweala on the grounds that she did not have requisite experience in
"trade negotiations". The process had to be kept on hold until after the US
Presidential elections of November 2020.
Luck is a very powerful
factor in human affairs. As it turned out, Donald Trump lost the election. His
loss is not a gain for the Democrats and Joe Biden/Kamala Harris alone, it was
also a major gain for Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who has now benefitted from the
change in the United States, as a globalist, liberal President emerges in the
White House. One of Biden's earliest tasks in office was to undo the damage
left behind by his predecessor, and a resolve to re-establish America's
leadership in the international order, especially with regard to such issues as
climate change, and America's role and place in the world through such
multilateral institutions as the UN, the World Health Organization and the
World Trade Organization. On Monday, February 15, the WTO officially announced
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director General of the WTO (March 1, 2021 - August 2025). You should have been in Nigeria or on Nigerian Social Media on
that day.
Nigerian Twitter exploded
with shouts of excitement and expressions of delight. Nigerians did not talk
about luck. (But imagine if Trump had won and that guy called Robert Lightizer
had remained US Trade Representative). They talked about the history made by a
great Nigerian ambassador, a woman of destiny, and an accomplished person.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's triumph was the stuff of history: the first woman to
emerge as DG of the WTO, the first African and also the first Nigerian to
assume that office. This means a lot to the people. In a country where ethnic
sentiments run deep, nobody talked about Okonjo-Iweala's ethnic group. Nobody
talked about her religion. Her achievement was something far more significant,
a subtle projection of the fact that the same Nigerians that promote mediocrity
routinely, appreciate and applaud distinction when they see it. As a people we
indulge in mischief and unproductive wrangling for selfish reasons. But Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala's making of history was far too iconic and legendary to be
reduced to such base instincts. The joy that was expressed revealed a gift of
humanism that is often masked in the Nigerian character. Congratulations.
Congratulations. Congratulations.
It is early days yet under
the Joe Biden administration but the new US President has signalled that there
is now a new dawn in the United States and the world. Within the same period
that the US dropped its opposition to the candidacy of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala,
President Biden earlier expressed his readiness to work with and support the
African Union. President Trump, before him, was not too enthusiastic about
Africa. He dismissed some of our countries as "shithole countries." Nigeria was
identified as one of such countries. Today, four Nigerian-Americans are in the
Biden/Harris team. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has also been endorsed. The Biden
administration would do well to build on the goodwill that it currently enjoys
in Africa. In addition, African leaders deserve commendation for the solidarity
that they demonstrated with their support for Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's candidacy.
As we have seen in the
case of Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus as DG of the WHO in 2017, and Dr. Akin Adesina's
re-election as AfDB President in 2020, in the face of again, Trump-America's
opposition, when African leaders unite around a goal, they can be more
assertive within the international community. Back home, Nigeria's President
Muhammadu Buhari also deserves praise for the statesman-like, non-partisan
support that he has given Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and before her, AfDB's Dr.
Akin Adesina. In June 2020, President Buhari nominated Okonjo-Iweala for the
position, and withdrew the earlier candidacy of another Nigerian, Ambassador
Frederick Agah. In October 2020, as the Americans tried to become a cog in the
wheel of WTO progress. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala visited President Muhammadu
Buhari in Abuja to thank him for his support and to ask that Nigeria should
continue to mobilise support for her candidacy. "Mr. President, put a smile on
my face. I am very proud of my country", she said. President Buhari told her: "I assure you that
we will do all that we can to ensure that you emerge as the Director-General of
WTO, not only because you are a Nigerian, but because you are a great Nigerian.
You deserve this…I did the same for Dr Akinwunmi Adesina for President of the
African Development Bank. Both of you served the country under the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP). You are both
highly qualified. We will continue to support you. I will immediately make
those calls." President Buhari has kept his promise. We are impressed. This is
an act of mature leadership that we will recall positively.
NOI is of course eminently
qualified for the position that is now hers. Twenty-five years at the World
Bank as a technocrat, rising to become Vice President and Managing Director of
the global body. Two-time Minister of Finance of Nigeria. One-time Minister of
Foreign Affairs. Board Member, Twitter. Chair, GAVI Alliance. Special Envoy on
COVID-19 to the African Union. Author. Public Intellectual. Ph.D, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Development Economics, with proven distinction in
learning and character. Recipient of many awards and distinctions. Eminent
global citizen. Even with the best of credentials, nonetheless, anyone seeking
the leadership of a strategic body like the 164-member WTO would need a lot of
support. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala got this in great supply. The return of the United States to the WTO
fold, and the home support that she enjoys in Nigeria and Africa will make her assignment
more manageable in many respects. Even more so would be the folk hero status
she now enjoys among the African populace.
Last week, many of her
compatriots took to the social media to celebrate. You may have heard of the
Hillary Clinton pantsuit campaign or the Kamala Harris single strand, coral
necklace celebration. The pantsuit is Hillary Clinton's signature costume. During
the 2016 Presidential campaign, her female supporters donned the pantsuit to
demonstrate their solidarity for the then US Democratic Presidential candidate
under the social media hashtag: #PantsuitNation. They were all over Facebook
too as they projected the pantsuit as a symbol of Hillary Clinton's messages:
power, equality and a level playing field. Conservative and formal in her
pantsuit, Hillary Clinton cut the image of a professional who could hold her
own a in a room full of male politicians. She thus highlighted the connection
between psychology and clothing. In 2020, we saw this on display again with the
emergence of Kamala Harris as first female, first Asian, and first Black woman
Vice President of the United States. On inauguration day, January 20, 2021, her
admirers also wore her signature pearl necklace - not just a piece of jewelry,
but a symbol of power, sisterhood and solidarity. They also created a Facebook
page: "Wear Pearls on January 20, 2021". In the last week, the new WTO DG has had her
own costume moment.
Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is
famous for her signature costume: the African wax two-piece attire, also known
as "Ankara" capped with a head tie popularly known as "gele" in the South West
of Nigeria. She probably in her younger days wore the regular female attires,
pantsuit, skirts and blouses, but since her days as Nigeria's Minister of
Finance under the Obasanjo administration, Nigerians cannot remember seeing her
in official capacity in anything other than the Ankara dress and gele. The head
tie is a major fashion statement among African women, and the usual styles are
quite flamboyant. Tying the gele in itself is an art. a thriving small-scale
enterprise exists around it. Many men and women earn a living from helping to
tie the gele, in very artistic. creative styles, the most striking for me being
the multi-deck, layered, skyscraper type, or those types that are meant to make
onlookers turn their heads to take a double look. Compared to other fabrics,
the African wax is considered cheap because it comes in various shades of
affordable grades, often difficult to distinguish in terms of cost or class by
simply looking at it. In the early 2000s, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala adopted the
African wax as her formal wear to official functions. Her adopted head tie
style, which she said she stumbled upon by mistake, not knowing how to tie the
gele properly, was often the butt of jokes - a flat wrap- around, strewn
together bunch of cloth, like a male cap, with a knot at the back, what Yoruba
women refer to as "osuka". I don't know the English word for that, sorry. In this
signature two-piece, African wax costume, and the accidental gele, she made a
powerful statement about simplicity, identity, authenticity and power. This
same costume has now made it to the mainstream. It is hilariously remarkable.
On February 15, 2021, Ms
Temi Giwa-Tubosun (@temite) wrote on Twitter: "Ladies and Gentlemen, it's
tomorrow! #NOIgoestoWTO. We are giving away N100k to the best dressed! Dress up
like NOI and send her a message of support as she goes to WTO!" This caught on
like wildfire, and was shared under different hashtags: #AnkaraArmy,
#NgozigoestoWTO, #BeLikeNgoziChallenge and #JustlikeNgozi. The Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala Ankara skirt and blouse soon became ubiquitous on all social
media platforms, with the gele of course tied in the same manner, and some of
the participants adding the NOI eye-glasses for effect. The interesting part of
it is that some men actually joined. In Africa, at least in our part of it, it
is unusual for a man to tie the gele, such an appearance could be interpreted
as a sign of malady. But her male fans could not be bothered. They joined the
women and the young ladies. I do not know when the winner of the prize was
announced or who the winner is. I have not bothered to find out. We were all so
consumed with the Ngozi-mania, the celebration and the euphoria, it did not
matter who won and who did not.
My favourite entry,
however, was posted by Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun (@tolulopeab} showing her
daughter dressed like NOI, head to toe, tipping down her eye-glasses imitatively
as she said: "Congratulations, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala." The #NOIchallenge will
continue as promised on March 1, the day Ngozi goes to the WTO. If the Swiss authorities would be willing to give
out visas as requested, to every African, many will follow Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
to the WTO to announce her arrival! They
should therefore be prepared for a colourful Ngonization of the WTO
headquarters because as the saying goes, "Naija no dey carry last". One more
thing: the symbolism of it all is inspirational.
Despite the many
achievements, historical and contemporary, of the African woman, there are
still many institutional, religious and cultural barriers, very resilient and
damaging, which limit the potential of the African girl-child and woman. This
dilemma has been well written about in literature, as in Tsisi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions, Buchi Emecheta's The Slave, Second Class Citizen and The Bride Price. Add Zulu Sofola's Wedlock of the Gods; in
politics as in the discrimination and marginalization of women in public life
despite years of rhetoric about affirmative action; in business and governance
as evidenced in continuing inferiorization and commoditization of the African
woman and the wanton feminization of poverty. The likes of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
shattered the glass ceiling long ago. She is a successful career person, a
mother, a community leader and an international citizen, who inspires other
Africans with how she has successfully managed to balance many goals. Many parents
want their daughters and sons to be like her.
One Swedish newspaper however,
referred to her as a "grandmother": "This Grandmother will become the boss of
the WTO" (Luzerner Zeitung): How
sexist and crass! The reference to her feminism and reproductive status is
entirely misplaced. They make it sound as if she is going to the WTO to baby
sit: what Igbos in Nigeria's South East call "Omu Ngwo". But come to think of it: perhaps that is exactly what
the WTO needs: a grandmother's instincts to straighten an institution that some
bad, errant boys have spoiled over the years. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says she is
going there with "clear eyes and ears." We are beginning to see the signs. She
is going to the WTO to save the organization, and the rest of the world.
Africans have high expectations too. What does her new status mean for Africa,
Nigeria and African trade in the context of the African Continental Free Trade
Agreement (AFCTA), beyond the symbolism of her African-ness?
She goes to Geneva as an
African but as a global leader and citizen. And there is a lot to do. She has given
a signal of what to expect with her initial statement about the threat posed to
internationalism by "vaccine nationalism". She says "no one is safe until
everyone is safe." That is precisely the kind of clarity that the world needs
right now.
Previous Posts by Author - Dr. Reuben Abati
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2. Buhari and The New Service
Chiefs - Beyond the Handover of Flags
3. President Muhammadu Buhari
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4. Sunday Igboho and the Yoruba
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5. Playing with
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6. Eight Lessons from 2020: The Year That Was
7. Book Review - An Open Letter to Goodluck Jonathan
8.
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9.
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10. #EndSARS: The Aftermath - Nov 03, 2020
11. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Best Woman for the
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12. #EndSARS: The State of the
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14. #EndSARS: Almost a Nigerian Revolution - Oct 13, 2020
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16. God-wins, Edo and Lessons Learnt
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19. Thoughts on Nigeria and Chinese Loans -
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22. Coping with Coronanomics - Abati
23. Corona Blues - Abati - Apr 07, 2020
24. The Psychology of COVID-19 - Abati
25. Amotekun: The Politics of Protection -
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26. New Electricity Tariffs: Questions by
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27. Omoyele Sowore: Portrait of A Life in
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28. Of Constituency Offices and Projects -
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29. The Supreme Court and the Atiku Election
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30. The Constitutional Crisis in Kogi -
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31. The Spiritual Solution to Boko Haram -
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32. Oct 1: The Journey So Far - Oct 01, 2019
33. Presidential Powers and The Vice
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34. Nigeria, Xenophobia and Ramaphosa's Apology - Sept 18, 2019
35. Mohammed Adoke Writes Back - Sept 18, 2019
36. P and ID vs. Nigeria: A Review by Reuben
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45. The Obasanjo Bombshell - Abati
46. Ogun 2019 Politics and Deployment of
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47. Chief Anthony Anenih: A Personal and
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48. The "Oshiomhole Must Go"
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1. DG Elect Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Expresses Gratitude to the WTO
General Council - Feb 16, 2021
2.
Dr.
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3.
US
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Ngozi
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5.
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WTO:
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14. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala supports non-interest banking at confirmation hearing
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