Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, met behind closed doors with President Bola Tinubu on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, commending his administration for reforms that are “restoring stability to Nigeria’s economy.”
Okonjo-Iweala described the meeting as “very good” and said the President was “gracious” to receive her shortly after she joined First Lady Oluremi Tinubu to launch the Women Exporters Fund. The fund, jointly managed by the WTO and the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva, aims to help Nigerian women entrepreneurs grow businesses, create jobs, and boost household incomes in the digital economy.
“You cannot really improve an economy unless it’s stable,” she noted. “Nigeria competed and emerged as one of only four countries globally selected for this new programme. Out of 67,000 Nigerian women who applied, 146 were chosen as beneficiaries.”
Sixteen winners under the “Booster Track” already run businesses that will be scaled up with 18 months of technical and business support from the WTO, ITC, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council. Another 100 will each receive $5,000 and a year of business development support, while the rest will get tailored assistance to strengthen their enterprises.
“This is just the beginning,” Okonjo-Iweala said, stressing the programme’s potential to expand Nigeria’s economic base and empower women.
On the economy, the former Finance Minister under President Goodluck Jonathan credited the Tinubu administration with achieving stability, which she called “a necessary foundation for growth.” She added: “The President and his team have worked hard to stabilize the economy. The reforms have been in the right direction. The next step is growth, and alongside that, building social safety nets so those feeling the pinch of reforms can get support.”
She emphasised that growth, job creation, and income expansion must go hand-in-hand with measures to cushion the impact of reforms on vulnerable Nigerians.
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