How Nigeria Will Benefit From WTO-Okonjo-Iweala

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has assured that her organisation  will do more to  bail out Nigeria from its economic quagmire.

She spoke when she visited the President Muhammadu Buhari  at the Presidential villa,where she also advised Nigeria on the need to trade more with a view to increasing the country’s benefit from WTO

She said: “WTO will do more to help Nigeria, but we need to add value to our products in order to trade more. We should exploit all the opportunities in front of us.”

She lauded Buhari for the  support she received from the country in the race for the position.

She said, “You nominated me; you wrote hundreds of letters, called up hundreds of world leaders.Without your personal and direct intervention, it may not have worked. The people of Nigeria also supported me massively.The youths were wonderful, always encouraging, backing me up on social media.

“Mr President, the world recognises what you have done. Since its establishment, only men have led the WTO.Now, a woman has emerged for the first time, and she’s a Nigerian. We are so honoured.”

She added that the support and leadership of Buhari would help her a lot in her position as DG.

Okonjo-Iweala assumed office on March 1, 2021 as the first female DG of the WTO.

 Buhari told Okonjo-Iweala, that despite the robust support Nigeria gave to her candidacy for the position, “You also earned it.”

He said, “We are happy you made it, but you earned it with your record of performance both at home and abroad.”

The president said Okonjo-Iweala was putting Nigeria more on the world map, “and I congratulate you, as well as the country. I know you will represent us so well.”

She also attended meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geofrey Onyeama, Okonjo-Iweala  and disclosed  that Nigeria will benefit by producing and pushing for more trade.

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She said, “Right now, Nigeria has 0.3 per cent of world trade and 19 per cent of Africa’s trade.  You could see that as very small but you could also turn it around and see it as a big opportunity to make use of what has happened to the Africa Continental Free Trade.

“So, WTO will support Nigeria with capacity-building and technical assistance to improve the quality of the products that we export.

“We will work with entrepreneurs and producers to make that happen so that others can access other markets. Particularly, since we need to diversify away from oil and process agricultural products and this needs a lot of care. So, we hope to be able to provide that directly.”