Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Benefit Derivatives by Austin Isikhuemen

Our very own Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala takes office as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation a few weeks hence. I do not know her personally. But I have meant her and exchanged pleasantries once at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at Abuja. She was in a hurry to catch a flight out and I just arrived and got out of Arrival Hall.

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She was with her husband, a gangling dignified athletic-looking man with no spare morsel of fat anywhere on his body. Ngozi was slightly out of breath in the race to ensure she didn’t miss her flight but she still stopped to respond to my greetings and almost blushed when I told her Nigerians to appreciate the selfless service that she has done over the years with integrity.

The husband, a renowned neuro-surgeon kept a dignified distance as his wife and I conversed. Then they dashed into the cavernous belly of the departure hall that another Amazon Nigerians loved to vilify had refurbished to international standard.

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Aunty Ngozi, as some folks like to call her has been in contention for the position of DG of WTO and it was obvious that in the race were some very competent candidates as well as some pretenders.

Some with intimidating credentials and some too with hollow claims to support their quest. Many dropped out on their own seeing that there was no way they could benefit from a wasted journey.

The lady from South Korea persevered because she had a bullish godfather who brooches no challenge and believed he owned the world. She was going to get the position in spite of Ngozi being head and shoulders above her pedigree-wise and the global majority endorsement of our Ngozi.

But the war to stay politically alive diverted the attention of the Korean’s godfather and with the demagogue out of Whitehouse, she quietly threw in the towel. Biden threw America’s weight behind the world’s choice and Ngozi won – unanimously.

Back home in Nigeria, it was celebrations galore by the majority who love their country and believe a win by our compatriot is a win for all. Of course there would be a few who had made pulling down this woman of intellect, integrity and grit was their key objective.

These include those the former Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy prevented from mortgaging their State’s future through unbridled borrowing for white elephant projects and political spending.

There were others who fought her and made it impossible for our country to save for rainy days and told her to her face that she was a political paperweight who should rather do their bidding and bring all revenues for immediate sharing and spending. To them tomorrow was not as important as their gubernatorial appetite. Now we know better.

Her win at the global stage is both a recognition and a reward. She has delivered excellently on roles she has occupied. She has had positive influence on international development as a World Bank Managing Director. Her CV and awards are as long as the 2nd Niger bridge.

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This is what the rest of the world saw that they wanted to benefit from. But this what some PHDs here envied and wanted to pull her down for. And they, the Pull-Her-Down brigade, have failed woefully. Were we a serious nation, we should have been courting her to run for Presidency or Vice President. That she is a woman would make some get high blood pressure to even hear she is being considered. Her geopolitical origin could even be anathema to some. This is why we are where we are today.

President Buhari must be hailed for the support he and the government gave in her quest for this job. This is how it ought to be. Those who see serious international assignments through the Nigerian ‘come and chop’ prism must have lobbied the President not to support her. He did in spite of them and Nigeria is better for it. Ditto for Femi Adesina and Amina Mohammed. All’s well that ends well.

Some citizens, many of them well meaning, have asked the rest of us not to raise our expectations too high. That there is very little the DG of WTO can do for Nigeria and that this euphoria is grossly disproportionate to the benefits derivable, if any at all, from this appointment.

Those folks are not wrong to ask those pertinent questions. They are calling our attention to the Nigerian past-time of holding a celebratory thanksgiving and reception for someone just appointed to a political position. They put the cart before the horse by not waiting to see his/her achievements in the role before assessing whether a celebration or mourning or cursing ceremony is deserved.

This Ngozi’s appointment is different. It is coming at a time Nigeria has had nothing to celebrate apart from AJ’s defeat of Pulev during a dreary pandemic. The feel-good effect of this victory is massive. In the midst of frequent kidnapping, cattle rustling, banditry, killings and insurgency, Ngozi’s win is a welcome balm to a badly bruised populace.

It is true we have not been able to take advantage of AGOA and increase our non-oil trade with the United States. It also true that those who started shipping our agricultural products to Europe wanted to take the shortcuts with which they expose our people to all sorts of health risks.

Some used snippers to prevent insect infestation and it didn’t matter to them that those are dangerous chemicals you do not use near food not to talk of adding them. Others were caught putting the worst products at the bottom of packages and putting the most attractive on top as they do in our local markets. Yet others used banned herbicides and deleterious chemicals banned in Europe and other western countries on their crops not knowing that their residues would still be discovered during laboratory analysis.

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If these folks continue in their old ways, Ngozi’s DGship will not help them or us. But if we educate our people and farmers and middlemen to follow best practices and abide rigorously by regulations, we may yet make a breakthrough and start to reap the benefits of the WTO policies that Aunty Ngozi can surely influence in favor of developing countries.

We, therefore, need to help the DG to help ourselves. She is in a Global role and the whole world is now her constituency but she can still give focused attention to things that concern the third world as a whole. We are the ones to prove ourselves worthy of those benefits and take advantage of them.

The fact that she is a woman is another cause for celebration of the womenfolk. That one of them has continued to rise and rise beyond her male traducers and envious fellow women in a society where women are expected to maintain the ‘oza’ room is cause for celebration indeed. She even defeated a more vicious bully in the United States.

Her win is therefore a win for girl-child education, and it is evident that if women put their hearts and hands and intellect and integrity to it, they will come out victorious. Ask Aruma-Oteh. Ask Amina Mohammed. Ask Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Ngozi has become our sartorial export to the world. Elegance in simplicity personified. Not for her gaudy expensive apparels though she can afford them. Not for her many layers of facial pancake and attention-seeking lipsticks or Brazilian hair and accessories.

Just simple beads on the neck, simple earrings and ankara fabrics some of our vain campus girls would even consider beneath their vainglorious status. The delicately balanced headgear made of the same material is, for her, the icing on the cake. Folks, Ngozi epitomizes the values we espouse and should inculcate in our children. Celebrating her is the first step in this journey.

Did you notice the humility and grace that dripped from her ‘acceptance’ statement? She conceded that her Korean competitor fought a good fight and was eminently qualified for the post. That is grace.

Not for her a crowing that she was the best and has arrived as her compatriots are wont to do! I would not mind my daughters developing these attitudes at all. Here is a role model worth emulating and celebrating. And we must not lose sight of the significance of merit as a selection criterion for organizations that desire top performance. Primordial sentiments drive sub-optimal outcomes and ultimately hurt everyone.

Of course, there would be those sitting and seething in one corner and rueing the outcome that has favored someone they consider underserving whatever their skewed assessment parameters. They too are entitled to their bile. Just like Ted Cruz, ghoulish Giuliani, and Sean Hannity who today still lose erection because Joe Bidden won, these here too can please rob ashes on their foreheads. People would think it is their own Ash Wednesday and that they take Lent more seriously than the rest of us.

Aboard Dana Aircraft 19th February 2021 – Austin Isikhuemen 

Download the first chapter of The Storytelling Series: Beginners’ Guide for Small Businesses & Content Creators by Obehi Ewanfoh.