Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday, welcomed the acceptance by the United States of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the position of Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The Office of the United States Trade Representative had made a pronouncement that was importantly supportive of the former Minister of Finance, thus signifying withdrawal of the country’s objection to her emergence as DG of the global trade body.
In a statement by Presidential spokesperson, Malam Garba Shehu, he quoted the President to have said: “We certainly welcome the decision of the new U.S. administration to remove the last obstacle in the path of Dr Okonjo-Iweala to becoming the first female and the first person of African descent to lead the organization.
“Nigeria and the entire African continent are happy about this new U.S position, which signifies a shift and an important turnaround in the relations between our continent and the United States under the Biden administration.
“Today, we see that the United States stands with Nigeria and Africa with the acceptance of our widely respected citizen, Okonjo-Iweala to lead the WTO. We look forward to working very closely with the new U.S administration on this and all issues of common interests, especially in such areas as accelerated economic growth, fight against terrorism and deepening progress on development issues.’’
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