ABUJA
Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday met behind closed doors with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa.
She commended the administration of President Tinubu for the reforms that are restoring stability to Nigeria’s economy.
Okonjo-Iweala, who described the meeting as “very good,” said the President was “gracious” to receive her shortly after she joined First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to launch a Women Exporters Fund earlier in the day.
The fund, jointly managed by the WTO and the International Trade Centre, ITC, in Geneva, is aimed at helping Nigerian women entrepreneurs grow their businesses, create jobs, and boost household incomes in the digital economy.
“Nigeria competed and emerged as one of only four countries globally selected for this new programme,” she said. “Out of 67,000 Nigerian women who applied, 146 were chosen as beneficiaries.”
Sixteen of the 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 in direct funding along with a year of business development support, while the remainder will access 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 WTO boss, who was the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy under President Goodluck Jonathan, credited the Tinubu administration with achieving stability, a necessary foundation for growth.
“You cannot really improve an economy unless it’s stable,” she noted.
“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 added that growth, job creation, and income expansion must go hand-in-hand with measures to cushion the impact of ongoing reforms on vulnerable Nigerians.
