In a webinar put together by Phumza Dyani, founder, Pan African Network for Investment and Development (PANfID), that majorly focus on the implications of an African woman DG of the World Trade Organization. Hon. Nwabueze Buchi George, ESQ, LLB, MBA, JP, got the following to say:
COURTESY: First of all I want to thank Phumza Dyani and everyone she is working with to put up this wonderful webinar. It is a wonderful one and it is also important to note that this is an important time for the entire African continent to come together and think of what we can do to ensure that what we are practicing is the true definition of trade with other continents.
I also appreciate my fellow speakers in the webinar and also gladly welcome every single participant because you are once making this event what it is.
Question: what’s the Most Important Turning Point in the Forthcoming WTO Election?
Hon. Nwabueze Buchi George: African has evolved and we will keep growing to the level where Africans will make great exploits in the continent and not just in Europe and America. We are filled with potential to create, organize and to lead, which means if we can stand together, nothing can stop us. Africa has once changed the world when we provided mineral resources and manpower to many great nations who they are today. We are still who we are, strong, rich, wise, powerful and can again be the rallying point for world trade, but not in exploitation for aids, but in pure trade like the continent has never seen. This is one thing an African WTO DG can help us achieve. The most important turning point is not when we will cast the vote; it is who will cast the vote, but how we understand that this is not just race for one out of 1.216 billion person in Africa to hold a WTO Director General Position, but a race for the entire continent and those in the Diaspora to move the continent to a great height.
Question: Is Trade Not Aid The Answer For Africa?
Hon. Nwabueze Buchi George: As an international trade expert, I believe that most cases what some African countries do in the name of trading is to aid the development of foreign countries, who then pay us just a little to aid our survival. With mismanaging factors taken note of, Africa has never gotten what it deserved in the world trade circle and the simple reason is that the ignorance and greed of our leaders has been encouraging the leaders of the World Trade Organization and other related bodies to turn their face the other side, when something is going wrong here.
With the candidates we have in this race, we believe they will be changing a lot when one of them wins. With Africa as the head of WTO, we are sure to open eyes that have been shut. We are sure to turn heads that have been facing the other way and we are also sure that Africa can thrive on the true definition of trade where Africa can be involved in mutually beneficial trade with whosoever that is involved in it. Again, I also believe that with an African DG of the WTO, it will also be a wakeup call for reigning and emerging African leaders who have in the past been involved in trade agreements that would be termed funny in most cases. Trade to me is a balanced and mutual give and take situation and not one where the ‘bigger party’ per say, leverages on the desperation of the other party to exploit them and then sends them aids in return.
Why do you think most western nations are coming back to Africa? Why do you think everyone is fighting to win the soul of the most prosperous African nations? Why do you think Africa is always coming up in discussions like a new world? Why do you think the west is still interested and haven’t they finished the resources in Africa?
They understand the position of Africa at the moment. Our best brains want to leave the shores of this continent and it is also the same for our best resources; they must travel abroad, refined and then brought back more expensively for us to buy. These things can change if we have the right persons ensuring the right things are being done when it comes to trade in the continent. Having championed trade summits between Nigeria and many countries, I have come to understand what they want and how they want it. Africa needs a strong voice and this is the right time for us to make that move.
Question: Quality of The Africa Representatives Being A Neural Party For The Post Of A DG In WTO
Hon. Nwabueze Buchi George: So far, our candidates are good for the job. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril are great individuals who can walk in and make a great difference in WTO. With their qualities, Africa will not be chasing these positions by sentiment, but by merit. All we have to do is ensure that they receive all the necessary support that will enable them to go far in the race. African candidates at the WTO are neutral and this means they can repair the damaging global trade relationship we are witnessing at the moment. Some of the candidates have had experience in fixing damaged economies and that is what they will be inheriting in the Covid-19 and post-Covid19 era. We must not also overlook the qualities of the other candidates and who is backing them. We must put that into consideration and ensure that we do everything possible to play in the best ways and if it ever comes to putting all our eggs in one basket, we will have to do that to ensure our votes are not divided when others strategically have theirs intact.
Question: What Would You Say About The Africa Representatives Being Women, “The Woman Factor”?
Hon. Nwabueze Buchi George: There is an African adage that says "Train a man and you train an individual but if you train a woman, you train a nation, Empowering women is one great way to empower the world, because no one connects to everyone in the world more than women. The woman and African factor is huge for the continent at a point where women empowerment and gender equality is among the most discussed issues when we gather. The world can only be what it is supposed to be when we all join hands to complete the circle of life, innovation, leadership, trade and development. It is so sad to say that the poor participation/exclusion of women in these circles of life has prevented the world from making a complete circle. Without women participation we will have arcs scattered here and there. Women make us complete and their contribution to the development of the world could be the missing link and this has always been there before us.
I feel that should one of our candidates win, they will be inspiring more than a million others to aspire to be who they want to be. The history they will be making will also be there to inspire millions of others globally to dream and achieve great things that will make the world a better place for us all.
Question: Your Final words?
Hon. Nwabueze Buchi George: Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Amina Chawahir Mohamed Jibril can win and back here in Nigeria, they have our blessings. We want to see one of them win; we want to see trade flourish in Africa and hopefully through one of them Globe Chambers of Commerce and Industry will organize a joint trade, economic and investment programme that will further encourage investments in Africa and also show Africans how they can explore in other parts of the world. We are optimistic. Thank you.
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