This is because Mrs Okonjo-Iweala may not get AU’s
endorsement for the position as she is joining the race after the body’s
stipulated period for nominations. Her belated nomination by Mr Buhari also
means she will be contesting the election against candidates already endorsed
by the AU, which will be in violation of the body’s rules on candidature for
positions in international organisations.
Such a violation comes with risks of sanctions on a
nominating country.
By Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination, another Nigerian, Yonov
Agah, whose candidacy was already approved by
AU Executive Council, was withdrawn in what appears to be a breach of
AU’s agreed terms on candidature for the WTO’s top job. Mr Agah is currently
one of the four deputy DGs and Nigeria’s representative at the Geneva-based
global trade body.
And there are concerns among Nigerians in the diplomatic and
international development circle that Western interests may be pushing the
Okonjo-Iweala candidacy to assuage Nigeria in the circumstance the moves to
stop Akinwumi Adesina’s re-election at the African Development Bank are
successful.
But Paul Nwabuikwu, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s media adviser, told
PREMIUM TIMES, “There’s absolutely no connection between Dr Adesina’s campaign
for a second term at the African Development Bank and Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s
nomination for Director-General of WTO.”
Substitution
In a diplomatic note through Nigeria’s mission in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, which hosts the AU headquarters, Mr Buhari last Thursday
announced Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, formerly Nigeria’s finance minister and World
Bank’s managing director, as the country’s candidate for the WTO job.
Mr Agah was already shortlisted alongside two other African
candidates for the WTO’s DG position by the Executive Council of the AU before
Mr Buhari’s decision to replace him with Mrs Okonjo-Iweala on Thursday.
The two other African candidates shortlisted by the AU,
alongside Mr Agah, are Egypt’s Hamid Mamdouh, a trade lawyer, member of the WTO
Secretariat, and trade negotiator for Egypt; and Beninoise Eloi Laourou, the
ambassador and permanent representative of Benin to the United Nations and
other organisations in Geneva.
Despite the withdrawal of his candidacy for the position of DG, Mr Agah will remain at the WTO as a deputy DG until October 2021 when his second tenure expires. So, if Mrs Okonjo-Iweala succeeds, the world would have two Nigerians, for some time, at the highest level of the WTO
Mr Agah, who has about 30 years in international trade, has
spent 15 years at the WTO, starting as Nigerian Permanent Representative to WTO
in 2005 before becoming the organisation’s deputy DG in 2013.
Mr Agah’s nomination was seen as backing him to the zenith
of the organisation, having already held a senior leadership role there. He
oversees the organisations, development division, institute for training and
technical cooperation and trade policies review division.
Mr Buhari did not give reasons for withdrawing Mr Agah’s
candidacy. But the president mentioned Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s record of
accomplishments in international development and finance, including her 2010
role “as chair of the World Bank’s successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in
grants and low-interest credits for poorest countries of the world,” and
presently as Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry did not comment when its
spokesperson, Ferdinand Nwonye, was contacted on Sunday.
AU’s endorsement process
The endorsement of the three from Benin, Egypt and Nigeria
was documented as EX.CL/Dec. 1090(XXXVI) and is contained in the official
record of the Executive Council’s decisions at its February 6-7 2020 36th
ordinary session in Addis Ababa. PREMIUM TIMES has seen the record, which also
indicates a request to the committee on candidatures within the international
system for further consideration of the three candidates with a view to
eventually having a single African candidate.
The AU’s Executive Council, comprising foreign affairs
ministers of member states, has standing rules to promote African candidatures
within the international system. Its ministerial committee on candidatures
consider nominations from member states and makes recommendations to the
Executive Council.
So, while African member states of transnational bodies are
free to nominate their nationals for positions at such bodies, they have agreed
to cooperate on presenting common candidatures for positions in the
international system.
This protocol helped to ensure Mr Adesina was the only
candidate for the AfDB’s election this year. His endorsement by the AU
Executive Council was sealed the same day the council approved the nominations
of Mr Agah, Egypt’s Mr Mamdouh, and Benin’s Mr Laourouin for the WTO job. These
were during the February 2020 26th ordinary session of the Executive Council in
Addis Ababa.
“Decisions of the Executive Council on the recommendations
of the Committee on a particular candidature shall be binding on all Member
States,” provides the Rule 15 of the Rules of Procedure of the Ministerial
Committee on Candidatures within the International System.
In July 2019, the Executive Council of the AU had, as
recorded in EX.CL/Dec. 1072 seen by PREMIUM TIMES, requested member states to
nominate candidates for the WTO’s DG position by November 30 of 2019. The
Council, in that decision of July 2019, reckoned that “since the GATT (1948),
the WTO’s predecessor, no African has held the post of Director-General at the
WTO,” and “strongly recommends” that the next DG be African.
“Pursuant to that Decision, (Nigeria’s) Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA) obtained the approval of His Excellency, Mr. President for the
Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) to nominate a
competent Nigerian candidate for approval and submission to the AU Committee on
Candidatures within the International System before the closing date of 30th
November 2019,” explained a source with inside knowledge.
“In response to the approval and directive by His
Excellency, Mr. President, the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and
Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, CON, submitted the name of Ambassador Yonov
Frederick Agah, PhD, for approval and submission to the AU Committee on
Candidatures within the International as Nigeria’s candidate for the position
of WTO DG.
“At the end of the closing date of 30th November 2019 only
three countries, namely, Benin, Egypt and Nigeria were able to submit
candidates to the AU Committee on Candidatures within the International System,
as stipulated in its Decision No. EX1072 of July 2019.”
There is just about one month before the window for nominations by member states of WTO closes ahead of the final selection or election. But AU’s deadline to receive nominations to choose a candidate it would commonly back ended on November 30, 2019. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination was only made last Thursday.
Egypt against Okonjo-Iweala
Egypt is opposing Nigeria’s substitution and seeking the
country’s disqualification from the AU endorsement process. The Egyptian
government argued that the new nomination of Mrs Okonjo-Iweala came well after
the due dates and that she was not one of the three candidates considered and
shortlisted in the period stipulated.
Egypt, in a memo circulated in Addis Ababa on Friday,
requested the AU to “officially inform the African Group” that Nigeria has no
candidate and so “Abdulhameed Mamdouh of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Eloi
Laourou of the Republic of Benin are currently the only two endorsed African
candidates” in the race.
The north African country also hinted at consultations with
Benin towards a consensus candidate.
“Cairo feels shortchanged by the nomination (of
Okonjo-Iweala), since she (Egypt) had her eyes on the WTO position, after
rallying African support in favour of Nigeria’s Adesina (for re-election at
AfDB); in spite of an obvious bad case that we’ve tried to paper over with
blackmail sentiments,” analysed a source, who asked not to be named.
However, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s media aide, Mr Nwabuikwu said,
“It’s clear that Egypt is rattled by her emergence as Nigeria’s candidate and
is desperately grabbing at straws. Did you notice that they said they want to
quickly convince the Benin Republic candidate to step down for them so that
their candidate becomes Africa’s only candidate?”
Risks
Meanwhile, as it is unlikely that the AU will endorse Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO rules, however, allow Nigeria to directly nominate a
candidate for the election without any regional endorsement. But doing so, that
is running against a candidate endorsed by the AU, presents risks of sanctions.
“Member states that fail to comply with the decisions of the
Executive Council on candidatures for elective posts within the International
system, in addition to the sanctions provided for in Article 23 of the
Constitutive Act of the African Union may also be subject to a suspension of
endorsement of their candidatures for a period of five (5) years,” provides
Rule 16 of the Rules of Procedure of the AU’s ministerial committee on
candidatures within international system.
Further, the Article 23 of the AU’s Constitutive Act
mentioned in the rule provides that: “Furthermore, any Member State that fails
to comply with the decisions and policies of the Union may be subjected to
other sanctions, such as the denial of transport and communications links with
other Member States, and other measures of a political and economic nature to
be determined by the Assembly.”
Mr Nwonye, spokesperson for Nigeria’s foreign affairs
ministry, did not comment when contacted on Sunday over the possible risks
involved in Nigeria’s nomination of Mrs Okonjo-Iweala. “I can’t make any
statement now,” he said, but assured Abuja would make a statement during the
week “certainly”.
But Mr Nwabuikwu, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s media adviser, said,
“It is not accurate to say that AU has concluded the process.
“That’s not true at all. AU has a practice of encouraging
countries which have nominated candidates for an international position to talk
and, if possible, come up with one candidate. But this is not cast in stone and
it has not always happened. I’m not aware of the sanction you are talking about
and I’m not sure it has ever been applied.”
Seun Kolade, international development expert at the UK’s De
Montfort University, Leicester, said it is possible for Mrs Okonjo-Iweala to
win without AU’s support and despite the risks.
“I think it’s possible for the West to rally behind
Okonjo-Iweala,” he said. But he fears the possibility of Mr Adesina’s failure
at AfDB. This is amid concerns Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s WTO candidacy has the
backing of AfDB’s non-African shareholders, mainly the U.S., opposing Mr
Adesina.
“AfDB is an organisation where Africans have the best
opportunity to directly influence the economic and development trajectory of
the continent,” said Mr Kolade. “AfDB is also of great strategic importance
because it offers an alternative that can further expose the lacklustre impact
of other financial institutions, make more Africans look differently at them in
retrospect. More importantly.”
“It can practically drive these other institutions out of
business. I believe this is one of the main reasons why the US is heavily
invested in taking control of AfDB (by installing their own puppet). It takes
this alternative source of finance out of the way for African countries.”
Mr Nwabuikwu did not directly respond to a question on the
interests backing Mrs Okonjo-Iweala but he dismissed as “unhealthy speculation”
any alleged connection between her WTO bid and Mr Adesina’s AfDB re-election
ambition.
He said, “We should focus on supporting our two strong
candidates for both positions and not help those working against Nigeria’s
interests. Nothing wrong with Nigerians heading both organisations.
“We should be happy that Nigeria has a chance to produce the
heads of two critical international institutions. Citizens of smaller and less
influential countries like Senegal have been heading different international
organisations at the same time for years. Why not Nigeria?”
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala is an AU’s special envoy to mobilise
international support for the continent’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is limit to impunity…”
Commenting, the lawyer, Femi Falana, told PREMIUM TIMES
that: “President Buhari must have been made to believe that elections to
positions in international bodies can be handled like appointments in Nigeria
which defy the provisions of extant laws and official policies.
“Egypt is out to humiliate Nigeria for failure to realise
that there is limit to impunity in respect of international appointments.
Unless the belated nomination of another candidate is immediately withdrawn
Nigeria may be disqualified from contesting the election. It will be so sad
because out of the three candidates nominated by the African Union the
credentials of Ambassador Yonov Frederick Agah tower above those of the other
contestants for the post.
“By the way, why should Dr. Agah with 30 years experience in
the area of international trade including service in the World Trade
Organisation and (who) has done the country proud, be so humiliated at the
apogee of his ambassadorial carrier?”
On May 14, the Director-General of the WTO, Roberto Azevêdo, announced his decision to step down on August 31, one year before his term would expire, saying it was the best way to avert more chaos at the organisation in the face of attacks from American President Donald Trump and threats of a global recession.
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