The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has called on the World Trade Organization (WTO) to deliver concrete outcomes on public stockholding for food security and investment facilitation.
Kalu spoke Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, at the 57th Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO), attended by WTO Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
He said the WTO’s credibility would be judged by its ability to deliver meaningful outcomes for developing countries, despite progress recorded on fisheries subsidies and development issues.
Kalu expressed concern that 13 years after the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference, members were yet to reach a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security.
“Thirteen years cannot be explained as an ordinary negotiating delay,” Kalu said, stressing that delayed decisions affected farmers, workers and families.As an interim measure, he proposed consideration of a waiver under Article IX:3 of the Marrakesh Agreement to cover qualifying public stockholding programmes.
The Deputy Speaker also raised concerns over the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, saying broad support had been stalled by a single formal objection.
He called for stronger accountability from national parliaments, proposing that legislatures report concrete actions taken to advance WTO outcomes before each Steering Committee meeting.
“Too often, our discussions focus on what Geneva has or has not done. We should devote equal attention to what our own governments and legislatures have done,” he said.Kalu also proposed that future PCWTO sessions focus on contested economic issues, including food stockholding, investment facilitation, e-commerce and digital trade rules.
“Nigeria is not here to add to the diagnosis. We are here to help restore that trust,” he said, reaffirming Nigeria’s commitment to a fair and development-oriented trading system.
Addressing the conference, Okonjo-Iweala said consensus remained important but its application as unanimity had enabled single objections to block broadly supported outcomes, urging parliamentarians to propose practical reforms to rebuild confidence in the WTO.
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