…Pledges to bring Israel, North Korea, Egypt, South Sudan on board
Nigeria’s Candidate for the position of Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Eniola Ajayi, has said that if elected to the top United Nations’ position, she will ensure that all countries of the world sign up to the convention so that there will be a universal convention.
The former Nigerian Ambassador to Hungary and the Netherlands, in this interview in Abuja, also said she will try to bring on board, countries such as Israel, Egypt, South Sudan and North Korea who have not been accredited to the OPCW.
Amongst other issues, Ajayi further said she will work to ensure that there is diversity and gender equity whereby there will be more women representation and representation across geopolitical groups in the OPCW.
Why your decision to vie for the position of the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons?
When you say decision, it is like it was totally up to me. But the truth is, some of my colleagues recognised the fact that I could do the job; they contacted me that have I thought about it? And even after thinking about it, because it is a country position, it is not up to me, my country has to nominate me. So, yes, I put up my application, knowing that I had been encouraged to participate and I requested the nomination of my government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then, the president graciously approved my nomination and put it forward to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
In one of your recent interviews, you said that you are a bridge between science and diplomacy. What do you mean by that?
In fact, this is an auspicious day for you to understand it. I am at this event that you are interviewing me; it is called Family of Optometric Mentors. My training as a person is first of all as an optometrist and an ocular pathologist. So, I am an eye doctor by profession. But sometime in my life, precisely 2017 to 2023, I served as the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria first to Hungary, with concurrent accreditation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia and subsequently, I was cross posted to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2021 as the ambassador of Nigeria still for a second tour of duty. This time, I was also the permanent representative of Nigeria to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice and Common Fund for Commodities. So, when I say I am a bridge between science and diplomacy, it is because my background is science and I am also a trained diplomat. A diplomat twice recognised by my country and also recognised by my peers because at some point in our journey, I became the first and current chairperson of the FGN Women Ambassadors Network – ambassadors of Nigeria past, present and future; that is the body that caters for that.
Moving from being an eye doctor to diplomacy, how has it been?
It has been wonderful. My career is very interesting. I started my career in the military as a civilian staff. I worked in the Nigeria Air Force, including my service year for 20 years and then, I started my practice. While doing private practice, I was invited to be the commissioner for education, science and technology in Ekiti State before I became the commissioner for environment somewhere along the journey. And then, I was also encouraged to contest for the House of Representatives, representing Ekiti Central Constituency Two in 2015. When that election didn’t go as we envisaged, I was nominated as the Ambassador to represent Ekiti State and that was how I became an Ambassador under President Buhari and retained for a few months until all ambassadors were recalled under the current president, President Tinubu.
If elected into this position, what will you bring to bear on the job? What do you want to achieve?
There are a lot of things I want to achieve. My vision for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, they are quite a lot, but I will mention a few: the first one is what we call the universality of the convention. What do I mean? There are 193 countries accredited to OPCW right now. The only four countries that are not in the OPCW are Israel, Egypt, South Sudan and North Korea. And even Israel has signed the convention, it is just yet to ratify. So, what I intend to do is to make sure that all the countries of the world sign up to the convention so that we can get a universal convention.
The other one is that there are some outstanding dossiers like the Syria dossier. They have declared some chemical weapons, but we have not concluded the work in that area of verification. So, I intend to ensure a timely and speedy conclusion of that particular dossier.
Then, not in the order of priority, I intend to be able to use artificial intelligence in an ethical manner, while serving as the DG of OPCW. They currently use it in the OPCW, but I will further look into how we can use artificial intelligence to our advantage.
The fourth is budgeting. I will ensure that the budget is, number one, smart and fit for purpose. It will match the priorities of the organization to the point that the emerging threats, because right now, the OPCW has achieved a lot. We have done like 99 percent of the declared chemical weapons. We have been able to verify that. So, in that regard, you could say there is not a lot to do in that direction. But when you look at the fact that there are also emerging threats from what you call rogue regimes and non-state actors who still try to use chemical weapons, then there is a lot of work and focus in that area. There is also the issue of abandoned chemical weapons. So, what I am saying is that the budget of the organization will be fit for purpose, will take care of the new phase of the organization and the emerging threats that could occur in the future.
There is the issue of diversity. Diversity in the sense that the organization will reflect the nature of its composition – the people that work there in the technical secretariat, I will ensure that there is diversity and there is gender equity; more women representation and representation across geopolitical groups.
I would also make sure that I pay attention to emerging threats for our world. I would ensure we have a focus and forward-thinking leadership for the organization. And then, there will be obvious global cooperation amongst the state parties.
Right now, we live in a very polarised world. I will see how I can be a bridge-builder, bringing everybody together to focus on the core reason why the convention came about in the first place, which is to rid the world of chemical weapons, so that chemical weapons will not be used by anyone, at anytime, and anywhere in the world going forward. So, I will ensure that there is proper collaboration, there is less polarisation within the organization and see how we can build a consensus around the issues that matter regarding the prohibition of chemical weapons.
