Okonjo-Iweala Applauds Tinubu on Economic Reforms, Stability
The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday commended President Bola Tinubu for working to stabilize Nigeria’s economy, saying reforms under his administration are moving in the right direction.
Speaking to State House correspondents after a courtesy visit to the President on Thursday, Okonjo-Iweala said her discussions with the President centered on the launch of a landmark initiative aimed at empowering Nigerian women in the digital export economy.
“We came to brief Mr. President about something very joyful that we did today with the help of the First Lady – the launch of the Women Exporters Fund for the Digital Economy. This fund, jointly managed by the WTO and the International Trade Centre, in Geneva, to help support the economy and support women, to be able to weather the storms of the economy and be able to create jobs for themselves, for others.
“So, we came to brief Mr. President about this fund, which we launched. the Minister of Trade and Investment has been shepherding this effort in Nigeria, along with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.
“Nigeria competed and won one of four countries that won globally to be part of this new initiative. We had 67,000 Nigerian women who applied for this and 146 won and they are going to have money disbursed directly to them. 16 of them, won what we call the booster track, those who already have businesses, but their businesses will be scaled up.
“They will receive technical and business support for 18 months from the WTO and the ITC and working with the ministry, so we will all work together to make sure that their businesses expand, they employ more people, they put money in their households pocket and in the nation’s pocket, then another 100 will get directly $5,000 to scale up to start and strengthen their businesses again with 12 months of business support,” she explained.
On the state of Nigeria’s economy, Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged that the administration’s initial reforms had delivered much-needed stability.
“We think that the President and his team, have worked hard to stabilize the economy, and you cannot really improve an economy unless it’s stable. So he has to be given the credit for the stability of the economy. So the reforms have been in the right direction,” she said.
She stressed that the combination of economic stability, targeted growth policies, and robust safety nets would be critical to job creation and poverty reduction.
“What is needed next is growth. We now need to grow the economy, and we need to put in social safety nets so that people who are feeling the pinch of the reforms can also have some support to be able to weather the hardship. So that’s the next step.
“How do we build social safety net to help Nigerians cushion the hardship they are feeling? Then, how do we grow the economy so we can create more jobs and put more money in people’s pockets? These are issues that we discussed with Mr. President,” she stated.