TheNewsGuru

Tag: Next Week

  • Its Official! WTO meets next week to confirm Okonjo-Iweala as DG

    Its Official! WTO meets next week to confirm Okonjo-Iweala as DG

    Sequel to recent developments in the tight race for the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), all seems set by the organization to appoint Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its first female and first African leader next week.

    The global trade body announced Tuesday that it would hold a special meeting of its General Council on February 15 “to consider the appointment of the next WTO director-general”.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the announcement comes after United States President Joe Biden’s administration last week offered its “strong support” to Okonjo-Iweala, marking yet another sharp split from his predecessor Donald Trump, who had blocked her nomination for months.

    TNG reports that key WTO ambassadors tapped Okonjo-Iweala back in October as the best pick to lead the organisation but Trump’s administration maintained its opposition to her appointment and said it backed her opponent, South Korea’s trade minister Yoo Myung-hee, instead.

    Since the WTO makes decisions through consensus among all 164 member states, the US position left the process to replace Roberto Azevedo who stepped down a year ahead of schedule last August at a standstill.

    Observers suggested that South Korea had long been under pressure from the United States an ally that has 28,500 troops in the country to defend it from nuclear-armed North Korea to keep Yoo in the race.

    But Seoul suddenly announced last Friday that she was abandoning her bid, just hours before Washington announced its change of position.

    With no further obstacles in her path, Okonjo-Iweala is expected to quickly be tapped for the director-general post at Monday’s meeting.

    It remains unclear if she will be asked to take the reins immediately or if her term would start at a later date.

    Once she does, she will have her hands full.

    Twice Nigeria’s finance minister and its first woman foreign minister, 66-year-old Okonjo-Iweala is seen as a trailblazer in her country.

    A development economist by training with degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, she also spent a quarter of a century at the World Bank, rising to be managing director and running for the top role in 2012.

  • End 2017 admissions next week, JAMB tells institutions

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Thursday directed all tertiary institutions to end their 2017 admission by January 25.

    The Board’s Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin said the board’s decision came at a meeting where all issues and ones bordering on the admission process were taken into consideration.

    He said it was resolved that the academic calendar must be adhered to.

    According to him, the directive becomes necessary as the board intends to meet up with the academic calendar as earlier agreed.

    “By implication, candidates who have gained admissions into various institutions and are yet to register or do not have admissions by January 25 should begin to make preparations for the 2018 UTME.

    “The public must also note that the UTME results are valid for only one year and not three years as widely speculated.

    “If changes are made to the validity, I assure you the board would communicate appropriately to the public.”

    The board had recently said that the UTME examinations would take place between March 9 and 17, while the mock exams would take place in the first week of February.

    Benjamin also noted that the sale of Direct Entry forms are ongoing, while urging candidates who intend to apply to do so immediately as the sale of the DE forms ends on the same date with the UTME’s.

    “It has come to our knowledge that a lot of candidates are not aware of the sale of the Direct Entry forms, which we have advertised.

    “We are calling on desirous candidates to please register their profile and obtain the pins from the vending platforms.

    “Candidates who want to apply to institutions through DE must note that the sale of the forms started same date as the UTME’s and would end on the same date which is on February 6.

    “This form can be obtained through the same process as the UTME forms.

    “It could be purchased through vending commercial banks, Mobile Money Operators (MMO’s), Interswitch, NIPOST and Remita,” he said.

    Benjamin, however, noted that candidates should ensure that they disclose at the point of obtaining e-pins the exact pins they are paying for, that is, Direct Entry or UTME as some unknowingly purchase Direct Entry instead of UTME and vice-versa.

     

    (NAN)