Director-General of the World Trade Organization, WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention helped her clinch the prestigious job.
There was even speculation that it was former US President Donald Trump, not Buhari, that nominated her for the job.
The WTO DG made this revelation on Monday to journalists shortly after her meeting with Buhari.
While acknowledging that the president campaigned for her tirelessly, she confirmed that Buhari wrote several letters and called many world leaders to support her candidacy.
“You nominated me, you wrote hundreds of letters, called up hundreds of world leaders. Without your personal and direct intervention, it may not have worked. The people of Nigeria also supported me massively. The youths were wonderful, always encouraging, backing me up on social media.
“Mr President, the world recognizes what you have done. Since its establishment, only men have led the WTO. Now, a woman has emerged for the first time, and she’s a Nigerian. We are so honoured.
“WTO will do more to help Nigeria, but we need to add value to our products in order to trade more. We should exploit all the opportunities in front of us,” she said.
