By Oluwakemi Kindness
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has urged the World Trade Organization (WTO) to resolve the 13-year deadlock over public stockholding for food security.
Kalu proposed an interim waiver under Article IX:3 of the Marrakesh Agreement to cover qualifying public stockholding programmes.
He made the proposal on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, at the 57th Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO).
Kalu said the WTO’s credibility would depend on its ability to deliver concrete outcomes, particularly for developing countries.
He said there had been no permanent solution to public stockholding for food security, 13 years after the commitment made at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference.
Nigeria, he said, has co-sponsored the demand for a permanent solution with the African Group, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group and the G33.
“Thirteen years cannot be explained as an ordinary negotiating delay,” Kalu said.
He said the delay had consequences for farmers, workers and families affected by food-security decisions.
Kalu argued that WTO consensus should not prevent the use of an existing treaty mechanism when countries face pressing food-security needs.
He also raised concerns over the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, saying broad support for the agreement had been stalled by a single formal objection.
The Deputy Speaker called for greater accountability from national parliaments in advancing WTO outcomes.
He proposed that participating parliaments submit reports on concrete actions taken in their countries ahead of each Steering Committee meeting.
Kalu also called for stronger parliamentary involvement in trade negotiations, saying many legislatures are briefed only after negotiating positions have been finalised.
He proposed that future PCWTO sessions focus on contested issues, including public stockholding, investment facilitation, the e-commerce moratorium and digital trade rules.
WTO Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, also addressed the meeting.
Okonjo-Iweala said the application of consensus as unanimity had allowed individual objections to block outcomes supported by many members.
She called for practical reforms to rebuild confidence in the multilateral trading system, including greater transparency and improved notifications.
Kalu also secured the IPU Secretary-General’s reaffirmation of support for the planned hosting of the PCWTO event in Abuja in 2027.
He reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to a fair, credible and development-oriented trading system.
