The Nigeria Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) has officially announced the sudden demise of our Director-general/ Chief Trade Negotiator, Chiedu Osakwe, after a brief illness.
Osakwe who passed away in the early hours of Sunday, 22nd September 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was receiving treatment, was appointed as the pioneer DG of NOTN on 6th June 2017.
He was the Trade Adviser to the Nigerian Economic Management Team (EMT).
In a press statement released in Abuja by President Muhammadu Buhari’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, the President noted that the late chief trade negotiator had “intellectual depth” and demonstrated professionalism and patriotism in all the trade agreements he negotiated for the country.
“The passage of Amb. Osakwe has created a gulf in the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, which he served as pioneer Director-general, bringing invaluable experience, knowledge, and skill in setting up and motivating the operations of the agency that was established in 2017,” Buhari said
The President prays that the Almighty God will receive the soul of the cerebral diplomat, scholar, and administrator, and comfort his family.
Osakwe was a member of the Nigerian “Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council” and of its “Trade and Market Access Sub-committee” and its “Advisory Group on Technology and Creativity”. He served as the Chairman of the Negotiating Forum (NF) and Senior Trade Officials (STOS), for the negotiations on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), during which he led the AFCFTA Negotiating Institutions to finalise Stage 1, of the AFCFTA Negotiations (on Trade in Goods and Services), for signature by African Heads of State and Government.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Trade Negotiator Nigeria, Osakwe was an Associate Professor on International Trade Policy, Diplomacy and Negotiations (on a leave of absence) at the International University in Geneva.
He lectured globally and published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on a range of subjects, including trade policy; fiscal and monetary policies; and, structural reforms.
At the World Trade Organization (WTO) where he worked for 19 years (1998-2017), he was a member of WTO Senior Management, serving as Director of the Divisions of Accessions; Doha Development Agenda Special Duties; Textiles; and, Technical Cooperation. He was also, Special Coordinator for Least Developed Countries (LDCS) and Head of the Secretariat Inter-agency Working Group for the Integrated Framework for LDCS in the Office of the Director-general. He retired from the WTO Secretariat on 8 September 2017.
Osakwe joined Nigerian Foreign Service on 23 July 1979, after his NYSC, where he worked till 4 May 1998. During this period, he served in various capacities at the headquarters of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lagos and then Abuja.
As a Nigerian diplomat, the Ambassador held a number of international positions. At the Permanent Mission in New York, he was Chairman of the UN Subcommittee on the Legal Aspects of the Struggle against Apartheid (1984-1986);
He is highly regarded for his knowledge and expertise on international trade policy, globally, and for his contributions to the WTO, African Union, ECOWAS and to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.
