Two photographs that captured Chiedu Osakwe’s last public appearance were those taken at the 12th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union in Niamey, Niger Republic, on July 6, 2019. In one of them, he was seen being congratulated by President Muhammadu Buhari for delivering on an important national and continental assignment – the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA). Ambassador Osakwe, as director-general of the National Office for Trade Negotiations, had been at the forefront of negotiations for Nigeria, and provided expertise with the drafting of the agreement. The other photo was one of Chiedu standing alongside other members of the Nigerian delegation, cheering heartily as President Buhari signed the AfCTA. It was a particularly significant moment, given the initial hesitation about Nigeria becoming a signatory to the agreement.
There was clearly much shock and disbelief – indeed a deep sense of loss – that followed the news of Chiedu Osakwe’s death as it filtered out in the early hours of Sunday, September 22, 2019. This was largely because not many, except perhaps a tiny handful of people, were privy to the health challenges Chiedu had been going through, and which ultimately claimed his life. Here was a man who had been snatched away after some of the finest moments in his career. He was hardly able to savour the triumph of delivering on a critical national and landmark continental assignment.
As friends, colleagues and associates sought to accept his untimely death, the special significance of the pictures of his last public appearance slowly began to crystalise and to make some meaning. First, they belied the humble origins from which he rose to achieve national, continental and global recognition. Secondly, they epitomised his exemplary character. The stoicism with which he bore what turned out to be terminal health challenges, while focusing on the national assignment, set him apart as one of the most patriotic Nigerians of our time. How many of us, when faced with such life-threatening health challenges, would have, as Chiedu did, focused on delivering on the national assignment and putting this ahead of saving our lives?
The humble beginnings and early years of this remarkable diplomat were nurtured and honed at the famous Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS), Onitsha, in Nigeria’s Anambra State. The school’s rich traditions and discipline played a role in Chiedu’s altruistic decision to put duty to his country first. He soldiered on with work despite his fast deteriorating health. Chiedu, as a young student, absorbed all the fine characteristics of DMGS. He lived up to his alma mater’s lofty motto of Lux Fiat (Show the Light) right up to the moment of his death. The influence of legendary DMGS principal Samuel Ogazi was evident in Chiedu’s voracious quest for knowledge, as was his unique trademark diction. These attributes of a Dengramite, as students of DMGS are called, saw him through the Federal Government Secondary School, Odogbolu, for his General Certificate of Education, Advanced-level studies, and the University of Ibadan, where he studied political science. Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided him the platform to soar to global heights.
Chiedu Osakwe joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a third secretary in 1979. Very early in his career, he was identified as one of the Young Turks in the foreign service. He was intelligent, articulate and had an extraordinary capacity for hard work. He was not daunted or fazed by it, an attribute that prepared him later for his illustrious career at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). His diplomatic postings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took him to the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations in New York from 1983 to1987. There, he served as personal assistant to the then Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, General Joseph Nanven Garba, a one-time foreign minister under Nigeria’s Murtala/Obasanjo military administration. During the same period, Chiedu also became chairman of the UN Second Committee’s Special Standing Committee on Apartheid and Decolonisation in Africa. On his return to Lagos, he was deployed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ second United Nations Department. There, he established himself as a multilateralist with specialisation in human rights, gender and good governance issues. His knowledge of these subject areas was profound, and his application of that knowledge in defence of the human rights records of the country and for improvements in human rights observance were impressive.
Chiedu was posted to the permanent mission of Nigeria to the United Nations in Geneva as a counsellor, a mid-career officer, in 1993. This coincided with the period immediately after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Globalisation had become the new international buzz word and there was the urgent need to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) with an organisation that would harness and bring about the envisioned benefits of globalisation, especially economic growth and prosperity through the reduction of trade barriers and tariffs, to all parts of the world. Chiedu was deployed to represent Nigeria at the institution building states of the new organisation, and he very quickly established himself though dint of hard work and application of his intellect and determination as an invaluable officer. His contributions to the emerging organisational structures, rules and objectives, especially his instructive insights into the needs of the developing countries in this complex new global trade arrangement, led to the formal request to Nigeria for his secondment to the WTO.
Chiedu thus had the rare and singular privilege of participating at the formative stages of the WTO and to have served as pioneer staff of organisation. He rose to the position of director of the WTO’s Accession Division. It was while he was serving in this capacity in 2015 that the Nigerian government made a special request to him to return and lend his invaluable and special expertise in the establishment of a National Office for Trade Negotiations. He subsequently returned home to establish and head the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations as his country’s chief trade negotiator. Chiedu Osakwe was formally appointed Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2010, in recognition of his exemplary services and contributions to the WTO.
The responsibilities, scope and structures of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations were drawn from Chiedu’s rich WTO expertise and background. It provided the platform for him to translate his bold and ambitious dreams of a prosperous Africa, built on intra-African trade, into actionable reality. That reality, fully supported by the African Union, was the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Although his humility would not have let him readily admit this, the fact is that he provided expertise, based on his WTO background, to put together this historic and landmark agreement. The AfCFTA is the largest free trade area outside the WTO. One can, therefore, only imagine Chiedu’s genuine sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when Nigeria finally acceded to the agreement in Niamey, Niger, on Sunday, July 8, 2019.
Despite the landmark achievement and recognition, Chiedu had one unfulfilled dream as a diplomat. It was a dream that provided the impetus for the long and many rigorous hours he spent combining work and studies during his career. He believed in hard work and the pursuit of excellence. He never left anything to chance. He understood that this dream would be elusive if he did not pursue self-improvement. He became fluent in French and earned a Doctor of Philosophy, in preparation for the realisation of that dream. Having participated in the institution-building process of the WTO, rising to the level of director, he looked forward to one day heading the organisation and bringing to its leadership, the concerns of developing countries. He felt that those concerns had hindered the vision of a globalised prosperity that had informed the establishment of the WTO. That dream was almost within his grasp.
It can be said here on good authority that President Buhari had approved his nomination for the position upon its vacancy in 2021. The Federal Government of Nigeria, it is understood, had equally agreed to seek the support of the African Group and canvass other regional groups to make this a reality. Sadly, death snatched Chiedu away before this dream could be realised. It just was not to be. No one knows what the outcome of his nomination as WTO director-general would have been, but there is a very good chance that the campaign would have been a successful one. Chiedu Osakwe would have been an outstanding WTO DG. To use popular Nigerian parlance, he is the best director-general the WTO never had.
The global outpouring of condolences at Chiedu’s death will, in some way, lighten the pain of his bereaved family as they deal with the irreparable loss of a beloved husband, father, brother, uncle, father-in-law and brother-in-law. Our thoughts and prayers are with his immediate family, his lovely wife, Ime, and their children, Emeka, Adanma, Anieze, and daughter-in-law Lauren, all of whom he adored. As his friends and colleagues, our thoughts too are with them, and with his extended family at this difficult time.
We commiserate with his brothers Onochie, Chuma, his alter ego, his sisters Chinonye and Ifeoma, his nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law. Death, although an undeniable fact of life, continues to astound us when it occurs. It leaves us empty, desolate and inconsolable, especially when it takes a special and beloved one. We enjoin the family to try, difficult as it may be to do, to heed Chiedu’s passionate plea to them: “When I am gone, you guys, move on. Don’t spend your time mourning over me. You have your lives to live.”
Chiedu may be no more but his footprints and memories will be here forever. They will be forever etched in everyone’s hearts and minds.
Lastly, Chiedu’s life was not just all about work. There was the other side to him, which was not entirely very public. He was an altar boy, and a singer who lent his powerful voice to the church choir. He loved music and reading. He was a voracious reader who would sometimes stay up all night to read books that he found of interest, regardless of the subject matter. He was an active member of the Boy Scouts and was always prepared for what life had to offer – as both opportunities and challenges.
Chiedu will be laid to rest in Ikenga Ogidi beside his beloved parents Chief SBC Osakwe-Otuome and Mrs. Christiana Osakwe. We know that they must be looking down warmly as they prepare to be reunited with their son.
For our part, his friends and colleagues, we will strive to ensure that Chiedu Osakwe, who served our country, our continent, and indeed the world with honour and distinction, is duly honoured. We feel that posthumous award by the Nigerian Federal Government would be appropriate. So also would be naming a major conference room or other facility at the headquarters of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement in Accra after him. Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe should not, for all the services that he rendered to country, continent and humanity, be an unsung diplomat. We bid him a tearful farewell and ask God to grant him peaceful and eternal rest.
•Nigerian Foreign Service colleagues and friends of Chiedu Osakwe, October 2019