Okonjo-Iweala assumes office as WTO DG

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Nigeria’s former minister of finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has assumed her role as the new director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

She is the first woman and the first African to lead the world body.

The WTO shared pictures on Twitter announcing her arrival on Monday to take the reins.

On arrival at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, dressed in her trademark Nigerian fabric, was received by WTO deputy directors-general Alan Wolff and Karl Brauner.

Okonjo-Iweala begins her tenure amid hope she would infuse the beleaguered body with fresh momentum to address towering challenges and a pandemic-fuelled global economic crisis.