In a significant boost to Nigeria’s economic development, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has commended President Bola Tinubu for working to stabilize the country’s economy.
Following a courtesy visit to the President on Thursday, Okonjo-Iweala announced 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,” she said.
The Women Exporters Fund, jointly managed by the WTO and the International Trade Centre, aims to support Nigerian women in the digital economy.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, the fund 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.
The initiative saw 67,000 Nigerian women apply, with 146 selected to receive funding.
“16 of them won what we call the booster track, those who already have businesses, but their businesses will be scaled up,” Okonjo-Iweala explained.
She said the initiative aims to provide technical and business support to women entrepreneurs, enabling them to expand their businesses and create more jobs.
“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,” Okonjo-Iweala explained.
Okonjo-Iweala commended President Tinubu’s administration for delivering much-needed economic 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.
However, she said that the next step is to drive economic growth and create jobs.
“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,” she added.
The WTO Director-General pointed out the importance of social safety nets and job creation in reducing poverty.
“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.
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