Hot Source* Lauds president for stabilising Nigeria’s economy
* Says all hands must now be on deck to further grow the economy
* Canvasses social safety nets to cushion effects of economic reforms on citizenry
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday thumbed up the economic reforms initiated by President Bola Tinubu since he assumed office over two years ago.
Okonjo-Iweala, a former two-time Nigerian Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, who spoke to newsmen after a closed-door meeting with the president, lauded President Tinubu for succeeding in stabilising Nigeria’s economy.
While emphasising that all hands must now be on deck to further grow the economy, the WTO boss also advised that government should create social safety nets to cushion the effects of the economic reforms on the citizenry.
Her words: “We think that the president and his team, and we just exchanged with him, 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.
“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, and 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.”
Asked the purpose of her visit to the president, Okonjo-Iweala said: “We came to brief him about something very joyful that we did today. With the help of the First Lady, we launched a women exporters fund for the digital economy.
“This is a fund that is jointly managed by the WTO, the World Trade Organisation, and the ITC, the International Trade Centre in Geneva, and the idea is 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, is part of thinking of what is a social safety net? How can we help support Nigerian women to contribute more to the economy and to themselves?”
The WTO DG stated that she had earlier in the day participated in the launch of a Women Exporters Fund for the digital economy, facilitated by the wife of the president, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Nigeria, she said, is one of four countries selected globally for the scheme, with the effort coordinated locally by the Ministry of Trade and Investment and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.
Out of 67,000 Nigerian women who applied, 146 were selected to benefit from the fund.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, 16 beneficiaries won the ‘booster track’ category for established businesses and will receive 18 months of technical and business support, while another 100 will get direct grants of $5,000 each and 12 months of business support to start or scale their enterprises.
“This is just the beginning,” she said, noting that the goal is to enable more Nigerian women to weather economic challenges, create jobs, and contribute more to national growth.
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