Okonjo-Iweala is the new director general of the world trade organisation

Nigeria's former Finance Minister has become the first African to occupy the office.

Nigeria's former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is now the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), various reports have stated.
She polled 104 votes from 164 member countries to defeat South Korea’s Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, at the final stage of the race.

With this victory, Okonjo-Iweala has become the first female DG of the WTO in the institution's 25-year-history.

She is also the first African to occupy the office.

She replaces the Brazilian Roberto Azevêdo, who informed members on May 14 that he would be stepping down from his post, one year before the expiry of his mandate. He subsequently left office on August 31.

Pulse has learnt that the WTO will formally announce Okonjo-Iweala as winner in the next couple of hours.

The process
The WTO usually arrives at its DG by consensus.

The third and final phase of the consultation process was scheduled to begin in late October and run until November 6.

It is unclear, at the time of reporting, why a winner is emerging now.

In early October, the WTO selected two final candidates -- Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea’s Yoo Myung-hee from a pool of eight -- to advance to the final round in the race to lead the Geneva-based trade body.

President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Okonjo-Iweala, 66, for the position on June 5, 2020.

The former Nigeria minister received the backing of regional body ECOWAS and the European Union on her way to emerging winner.

The new boss of the WTO will be tasked with overseeing much needed reforms, steer the trading world through a post-COVID recession, clinch multilateral deals, manage rising protectionism and navigate the trade war between China and the United States.