Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has called on Nigerian politicians to cease using insecurity as a means to undermine their opponents. She delivered a keynote address titled “A Social Contract for Nigeria’s Future” at the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.
“We cannot have socio-economic development without security. We certainly cannot have security without development,” Okonjo-Iweala emphasized. “We all know that security has been weaponised in our country for political purposes by political actors, leading partly to the situation we have now.”
She condemned the practice, stating, “We have politicians who believe that the best way to make their opponents look bad is to instigate insecurity, making it look like they can’t govern, regardless of whether this leads to loss of lives and property of innocent Nigerians. This has to stop.”
The WTO chief also addressed the issue of crude oil theft, describing it as “intolerable” and a significant threat to Nigeria’s economic well-being. “All Nigerians must agree that stealing of our national assets of any type is intolerable and must be stopped,” she said.
Okonjo-Iweala highlighted the availability of technological innovations to track and prevent oil theft, stressing that there are no longer excuses for inaction. “There is so much technology available now to track such theft, and there must be no more excuses for inaction,” she added.
Okonjo-Iweala’s address was part of the NBA conference, themed “Pressing Forward: A National Posture to Rebuilding Nigeria.” The event featured prominent figures, including former Ghana President John Mahama and President of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem. President Bola Tinubu and Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, were represented at the event.
Okonjo-Iweala’s plea to politicians to stop weaponizing insecurity and her call to action on oil theft underscore the urgent need for collective action to address Nigeria’s pressing challenges.
