Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has called on Nigerian politicians to cease using insecurity as a weapon against their rivals.
She made this appeal during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos.
In her keynote address, titled “A Social Contract For Nigeria’s Future,” the former Nigerian finance minister addressed a room full of lawyers.
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“We cannot have socio-economic development without security. We certainly cannot have security without development,” the WTO chief said.
“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.
“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 stated that technological innovations are now sufficient to track crude oil theft and hold the perpetrators accountable in Nigeria.
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She emphasized that those tasked with combating this “intolerable” crime have no more excuses.
Okonjo-Iweala said, “A second aspect of security relates to the security of national assets. Nigerians have seen for years how organised crude oil theft on a massive scale seriously undermines the economic and financial health of the country.
“All Nigerians must agree that stealing of our national assets of any type is intolerable and must be stopped.”
She said oil theft has hampered the strengthening of the foreign reserves.
“There is so much technology available now to track such theft and there must be no more excuses for inaction.”
The event, themed “Pressing Forward: A National Posture for Rebuilding Nigeria,” showcased distinguished figures from both Nigeria and abroad.
