Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu\u2019s economic reforms, saying they have successfully stabilised Nigeria\u2019s economy and positioned it for the next phase \u2014 sustainable growth.<\/p>\n
Speaking with journalists after a courtesy visit to the President at the State House on Thursday, the former Nigerian finance minister said economic stability is the foundation for any real improvement, noting that the administration had taken decisive steps in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that the President and his team have worked hard to stabilise the economy, and you cannot really improve an economy unless it\u2019s stable. So he has to be given the credit for the stability of the economy. The reforms have been in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat 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 weather the hardship\u201d, Okonjo-Iweala declared.<\/p>\n
The WTO chief said her discussions with President Tinubu centred on how to build robust safety nets for citizens adversely affected by reform measures, while simultaneously unlocking growth through job creation, expanded investment opportunities, and increased household incomes.<\/p>\n
Okonjo-Iweala was in Abuja to brief the President on the launch of the Women Exporters Fund for the digital economy, a new joint initiative of the WTO and the International Trade Centre (ITC), unveiled earlier with the support of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.<\/p>\n
She explained that the programme is designed to help women entrepreneurs build resilience against economic shocks, create jobs, and contribute more significantly to national development. <\/p>\n
Nigeria emerged as one of only four countries selected globally after a highly competitive process involving 67,000 applicants.<\/p>\n
A total of 146 Nigerian women entrepreneurs were chosen for the first phase of the scheme.<\/p>\n
Sixteen beneficiaries in the \u201cbooster track\u201d, those already running businesses, will receive intensive technical and business development support for 18 months to scale up operations and create more jobs.<\/p>\n
Another 100 women will each receive $5,000 in direct funding along with one year of business mentorship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just the beginning. We will all work together \u2014 the WTO, the ITC, the Ministry of Trade and Investment, and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council \u2014 to make sure these businesses expand, employ more people, and put more money in both households\u2019 pockets and the nation\u2019s pocket\u201d, the WTO boss said.<\/p>\n
Okonjo-Iweala noted that the initiative represents a social safety net in itself, empowering women to withstand economic challenges while positioning them as drivers of inclusive growth.<\/p>\n
She said it also fits into the broader economic vision of the Tinubu administration, which has emphasised private sector participation, innovation, and targeted support for vulnerable groups as a pathway to a stronger economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu\u2019s economic reforms,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,35204,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-67538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-okonjo-iweala","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}