Nigeria Seeks AU’s Support For ITU Top Post

Nigeria is seeking AU
support for the candidature of Mr Shola Taylor, for the post of the Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Our correspondent reports that the ITU elections will hold during the plenipotentiary conference of the ITU in Busan, South Korea scheduled for between October and November.
According to him, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Aminu Wali, who is expected in Malabo later last Tuesday, for the 25th Ordinary Session of the AU, will seek the endorsement of Taylor.
Already, Nigerian diplomats attending the AU summit have stepped up campaign to get the support of African countries for their candidate.
Nigeria is contesting for the post alongside candidates from Canada, Egypt, Mauritania, Poland, Tunisia and the UK.
An official of the ministry told our correspondent on the condition of anonymity that Nigeria had already secured the ECOWAS endorsement for Taylor and was campaigning very strongly to obtain AU’s endorsement.
On the margins of the AU summit in Malabo, foreign ministers of the 15-member states of the AU ministerial candidature committee are expected to select one candidate from among the three African contenders as the AU candidate for the post.
Reports also have it that the contest is between Nigeria, Mauritania and Tunisia with the exception of Egypt, which is currently suspended from AU.
However, information posted on ITU website indicates that the Tunisian candidate, Mr Mongi Hamdi, had withdrawn from the race, a development not verified by our correspondent in Malabo.
Members of the committee are Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritius, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda.
Taylor, 58, is a leading authority on telecommunications in Africa and has over 30 years of postgraduate experience in international telecommunications.
The Nigerian has extensive experience in radio communication matters, having worked at Intelsat, Washington DC U.S., ITU,  Geneva, Switzerland, Inmarsat, London UK, and the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL).
He has also served as a former Chairman of the ITU Radio Regulations Board.