World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has appealed to the Federal Government to roll out social protection programmes for Nigerians struggling with the economic consequences of President Bola Tinubu’s policy changes.
She made the call on Thursday after a private meeting with the president at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
Okonjo-Iweala, who once served as Nigeria’s finance minister, praised Tinubu for bold measures such as scrapping the petrol subsidy and merging multiple foreign exchange rates. However, she stressed that the reforms must be backed by safety nets to help poor citizens cope with the hardship they bring.
“We think that the President and his team have worked hard to stabilize the economy. You cannot really improve an economy unless it is stable. So, he has to be given the credit for the stability of the economy. The reforms have been in the right direction,” she told reporters.
She added: “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 weather the hardship. That’s the next step.”
Since taking office in May 2023, Tinubu’s economic shake-up has drawn mixed reactions. While some analysts hail it as necessary for long-term stability, many Nigerians blame the fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification for soaring food prices and the sharp rise in living costs. These frustrations have led to street demonstrations, including the “hunger protests” and #EndBadGovernance rallies of August 2024.
Thursday’s meeting comes shortly before Okonjo-Iweala completes her first four-year term as WTO chief on August 31, 2025. She begins a second term the next day, continuing her trailblazing tenure as the first woman and first African to lead the 164-member global trade body.
During the visit, she and Nigeria’s Trade Minister, Jumoke Oduwole, also updated the president on progress with the Women’s Exporters’ Fund for the digital economy—an initiative launched in partnership with the First Lady.
“We came to brief him about something very joyful that we did today with the help of the first lady,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “We launched a Women’s Exporters’ Fund for the digital economy. This is a fund that is jointly managed by the World Trade Organisation and the International Trade Centre and supports women to weather the storms of the economy and create jobs for themselves.
“It is part of the thinking of the social safety net and what we can do to support Nigerian women to contribute more to the economy and themselves. Nigeria competed and one of four countries that won globally to be part of this initiative.
“We have 67,000 Nigerian women who applied for this, and 146 of them won, and they are going to have money disbursed directly to them.
“16 of them won what we called the Booster Track; those who already have businesses, but their businesses would be scaled up. They would receive technical and business support from the WTO and the ITC for 18 months.
“Another 100 would get $5,000 each to start and strengthen their businesses, with 12-month reforms.”
