• Switzerland’s Amb Matter wins as DG by Consensus
By Abiola Olawale
Nigeria’s bid to secure the seat of Director-General (DG) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has officially failed.
This is as Nigeria’s candidate, Ambassador Eniola Ajayi, has lost out of the race for the position of Director-General of the OPCW after the Executive Council, by consensus, recommended Switzerland’s candidate, Ambassador Sabrina Dallafior Matter to the conference of States Parties.
Despite putting up a good campaign for the exalted position of Director-General, Ambassador Ajayi’s nomination together with other contestants were not the ones advanced by the OPCW Executive Council to the wider Conference of States Parties.
The New Diplomat reports that four candidates had jostled for the seat. They are Ambassador Matter (nominated by Switzerland); Ambassador Ajayi (nominated by Nigeria); Ambassador Andrés Terán Parral (nominated by Ecuador) and Ambassador Tiina Intelmann (nominated by Estonia).
Ajayi holds a degree in Optometry (Eye Doctor). She served as the Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology in Ekiti State from December 2010 to January 2013 under Governor Kayode Fayemi.
Ambassador Ajayi later served as the Ambassador of Nigeria to Hungary, with concurrent accreditation to Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina from October 2017 to April 2021.
She was also Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Netherlands.
By this latest development, Switzerland’s candidate is now set to assume office next year for the top job at the chemical weapons watchdog.
The New Diplomat gathered that Matter was recommended by the OPCW Executive Council on October 10, 2025, for ratification as the next Director-General.
Her formal appointment is expected to be confirmed at the Thirty-First Session of the Conference of the States Parties, scheduled to take place from November 24 to 28, 2025.
Should her ratification sail through as cistomary, she will succeed the current Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, whose term ends on July 24, 2026.
Matter is the current Ambassador of Switzerland to Finland.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Eastern European History and Russian Studies from the University of Basel, Switzerland. In 2000, after extensive experience in the private sector, she joined the Swiss Diplomatic Service and started her career at the Swiss Mission to the EU.
From 2016 to 2019, Ambassador Matter served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Conference of Disarmament and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva. Her skills include foreign policy and diplomacy.
The New Diplomat reports that OPCW was established in 1993 and came into force on 29 April 1997 as the world’s first multilateral disarmament agreement.
The Convention aims to eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction by prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer, or use of chemical weapons by States Parties within a time frame.
