Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has urged the World Trade Organization (WTO) to deliver concrete solutions on food security and investment facilitation, warning that prolonged delays are eroding confidence in the global trading system.
Kalu spoke on 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 expressed concern that the WTO has yet to reach a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security, 13 years after the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference.
“Thirteen years cannot be explained as an ordinary negotiating delay. Behind every delayed outcome are farmers, workers and families living with the consequences of decisions we defer,” Kalu said.
He proposed an interim waiver under Article IX:3 of the Marrakesh Agreement for qualifying public stockholding programmes, pending a permanent solution.
Kalu also raised concerns over the stalled Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement and called for greater accountability from national parliaments.
He proposed that participating parliaments report concrete actions taken on WTO commitments before each PCWTO Steering Committee meeting.
The Deputy Speaker further called for future parliamentary sessions to focus on key trade issues, including food security, investment facilitation, e-commerce and digital trade, so that legislators can provide clear input ahead of negotiations.
Meanwhile, Okonjo-Iweala said WTO reforms must address concerns over decision-making, development, special and differential treatment, fairness and dispute settlement.
She acknowledged that the trading system has not served many developing countries effectively and called for practical reforms to rebuild trust.
Kalu, who joined the PCWTO Steering Committee in February 2025, also secured the IPU Secretary-General’s reaffirmation of support for Nigeria’s hosting of the PCWTO event in Abuja in 2027.
He said Nigeria remained committed to a fair, credible and development-oriented global trading system.
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