Nigeria is a sovereign country in West Africa
bordering Niger, Chad, Cameroon and
Benin. Its southern coast is on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It is
a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory,
where the capital, Abuja, is located. Lagos is the most populous city in the
country and the African continent.
Nigerian government
planned to vaccinate approximately 109 million citizens that will be eligible
for the Covid-19 vaccination in two years, a senior health official has said. Speaking
at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 media briefing in Abuja, Head
of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the agency remains
in anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility and the African
Union, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. "After
excluding those that are under 18 years old, we plan to vaccinate approximately
109 million Nigerians that will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccination in two
years," he said.
Beyond the barriers of any
Nation, Global rules of trade provide assurance and stability. Consumers and
producers know they can enjoy secure supplies and greater choice of the
finished products, components, raw materials and services they use. Producers
and exporters know foreign markets will remain open to them. Established in
1995, The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international
organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are
the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading
nations and ratified in their parliaments. The Director-General of the World
Trade Organization is the officer of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative
operations. Since the World Trade Organization's decisions are made by member
states, through either a Ministerial Conference or through the General Council,
the Director-General has little power over matters of policy – the role is
primarily advisory and managerial in nature.
The post of
Director-General has been vacant since 31 Aug 2020, after the resignation of
Roberto Azevêdo of Brazil who had held the post since 2013. On February 5,
2021, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria secured the support of the United
States for Director-General of the WTO. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is a
Nigerian-American economist and international development expert. She sits on
the boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines
and Immunization, and the African Risk Capacity (ARC). On 15 February 2021, she
was appointed as Director-General of the World Trade Organization. Her term
will begin on 1 March 2021, making her the first woman and the first African to
hold the office.
Previously, Okonjo-Iweala
spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, scaling
the ranks to the Number 2 position of Managing Director, Operations
(2007–2011). She also served two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria
(2003–2006, 2011–2015) under President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck
Jonathan respectively. She was the first woman to serve as the country's
finance minister and the first woman to serve in that office twice. In 2005,
Euromoney named her global finance minister of the year. In 2003 she led efforts to improve Nigeria’s
macroeconomic management including the implementation of an oil-price based
fiscal rule where revenues accruing above a reference benchmark oil price were
saved in a special account, "The Excess Crude Account" which helped to
reduce macroeconomic volatility.
She also introduced the
practice of publishing each state's monthly financial allocation from the
Federal Government of Nigeria in the newspapers. This action went a long way in
increasing transparency in governance. With the support of the World Bank and
the IMF to the Federal Government, she helped build an electronic financial
management platform—the Government Integrated Financial Management and
Information System (GIFMIS), including the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and
the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), helping to
curtail corruption in the process.
She is married to Ikemba
Iweala, a neurosurgeon from Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. They have four
children. During her campaign to become
the next Director-General of the WTO, it was revealed that Okonjo-Iweala became
a US citizen in 2019 after spending several decades working and studying there. Given the ongoing trade tensions between
China and the US, analysts commented that the disclosure would be a
contributing factor in shaping China’s attitude towards her.
Woman power from Africa, Nigeria !!
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
17.2.2021
No comments:
Post a Comment