By Harry Awurumibe, Public Affairs Analyst
In civilised climes, jobs, especially important jobs like the Director General of World Trade Organisation (WTO) are reserved for the brightest and best candidates.
For this singular reason, folks strive very hard to excel in their chosen careers even as they look forward to one day reaching the very top of their careers.
To achieve a career, which is an individual’s metaphorical journey through learning, work and other aspects of life, people spend time, money and also make several sacrifices to attain a high position reserved for the best man or woman.
These careers may be in academics, military, civil service, government/public administration, diplomacy and specialised occupations.
Equipped with the requisite academic qualifications and training, the individuals are now set to be hired by governments, multi-national corporations or agencies and international bodies to man important positions for the general good of the society.
This is the main reason former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and later Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was selected to fill the vacant post of WTO Director General. She was announced the 7th WTO Director General after the global body’s General Council meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, February 15, 2021. She will assume duty on March 1, 2021.
Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment did not come easy as it took several months of strict scrutiny just as she fought off challenges from other seven strong candidates including Ms Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s Finance Minister for the plum post.
Interestingly, six candidates fell by the wayside leaving Okonjo-Iweala with Ms Myung-hee but as providence would have it, the Korean threw in the towel before the final selection process, paving the way for the Nigerian national.
An African proverb says “a patient dog eats the fattest bones”. This is apt in the case of the Development Economist who has been on the Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, since 1 January 2016.
Also, Okonjo-Iweala brings more than 31 years of Development and Financial expertise to the WTO Board. She has twice served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, most recently between 2011 and 2015 – a role that encompassed the expanded portfolio of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy.
In 2006 she served as Foreign Affairs Minister. She has also held several key positions at the World Bank, including as Managing Director.
As a former Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala’s experience and expertise are particularly valuable as WTO to rebound after a period of lull in the activities of the once vibrant body, especially after the bombing of WTO Headquarters in New York in September 2011.
Her impressive track records in public service stood her out to land the plum job while her strong commitment to finding private sector solutions to development challenges further contributed to Gavi’s mission.
Okonjo-Iweala was until yesterday a Senior Adviser at Lazard and serves on the Boards of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Center for Global Development, among others.
She is also the Chair of African Risk Capacity, a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) to help member states prepare for and respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters like the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
This Amazon was named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 greatest world leaders in 2015, and by Forbes for five consecutive years as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world.
In 2014, Okonjo-Iweala was recognised by Time magazine of USA as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
She is the author of several books including Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria, published in 2012.
Okonjo-Iweala graduated with an A.B. Magna cum Laude in Economics from Harvard University, and holds a Ph.D in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT). She has received numerous honours, including Honorary Doctorates from home and abroad.
With the above sterling qualities/ credentials, it would have been unfair to deny Okonjo-Iweala the WTO top job, although heaven will not fall if she was not the selected for the post of new Director General.
However, in this part of the World, with due respect, Okonjo-Iweala’s gender, tribe and tongue would have played major roles in picking her to head such a big organization. A lot of the primordial sentiments would have been the barometer with which to measure her suitability and eligibility for the top job.
For this reason, the brightest and best do not always get plum post in our continent nay Nigeria as jobs are given based on where the candidate comes from and his or her religious belief.
These are the bane of our society today and until these distractions are done away with the society will not be better.
It is therefore instructive for nations across the world to borrow a leaf from the WTO Director General Selection Process which threw up Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as new Boss of the global organisation.
Let our watchword always be “Let the Best Man get the Job”. If this becomes the new norm in our society, most of the evils such as corruption, looting of public treasury, greed, kidnapping and killings will stop or abate significantly.
*** Harry Awurumibe is a Public Affairs Analyst
