The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has urged Nigerian politicians to stop weaponising insecurity against their opposition in office.
Okonjo-Iweala spoke at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Sunday at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos
The former Nigerian finance minister in her keynote address entitled, ‘A Social Contract For Nigeria’s Future’ said;
“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.”
On theft of crude oil, the WTO boss said there are enough technological innovations to track theft and bring those behind the act to justice in Nigeria.
She said those responsible for stopping the “intolerable” action of crude oil theft no longer have 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.
