Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has praised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for implementing reforms that have restored stability to Nigeria’s economy.
Okonjo-Iweala made the commendation on Thursday after a closed-door meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Earlier in the day, she had joined First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu to launch the Women Exporters Fund, a programme jointly managed by the WTO and the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva.
The initiative is designed to help Nigerian women entrepreneurs expand their businesses, create jobs, and increase household incomes, particularly in the digital economy.
“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.l,” she revealed.
Sixteen winners in the “Booster Track” category already operate 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 women will each receive $5,000 in direct funding and a year of business development support, while the remaining beneficiaries will get tailored assistance to strengthen their enterprises.
“This is just the beginning,” Okonjo-Iweala said, emphasising the programme’s potential to broaden Nigeria’s economic base and empower women.
On the state of the economy, the former Minister of Finance credited Tinubu’s team with laying the groundwork 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 stressed that growth, job creation, and income expansion must be matched with measures to cushion the effects of ongoing reforms on vulnerable Nigerians.
