The Okonjo-Iweala chain visits 

16 Mar The Okonjo-Iweala chain visits 

In a chain of visits yesterday, WTO DG, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was at the Presidential Villa to thank President Buhari for his support; and made separate visits to Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed and those of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, as well as Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama. She expressed WTO’s willingness to assist the country in surmounting limitations to trade in order to increase its share of global commerce and grow the economy.

Supporting Nigeria’s trade, she noted, has become imperative giving that “Nigeria’s share of world trade is 0.33 percent and then in logistics of trade we are 103 out of 167 and generally 19 percent of African trade.”

Okonjo-Iweala said she sees Nigeria’s poor figures regarding trade as “a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of the AfCFTA and be able to expand and one of the objectives is to see how the WTO can help and add value to our primary products especially within Africa.”

She urged the country to exploit the huge potential in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to increase its share of the world trade, stressing that Nigeria’s 0.33 per cent share of global trade is poor.

While admitting that there are difficulties and challenges with Nigeria’s economy, she called for greater urgency to forge ahead as the nation is imbued with the potential to do much better. According to her, trade is a very strong part of that narrative.

According to her, the WTO can work with Nigeria to help deliver support directly, not only with their own resources in technical assistance, training and quality of products, but also with other institutions to remove some of the bottlenecks confronting commerce.

At the Villa, she told President Buhari, ““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,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

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

At the Finance Ministry, Ahmed called for WTO’s support to enable Nigeria to leverage on bio-economic resources. According to Zainab Ahmed, “it is not new we have been too dependent on fossil fuel and crude contributes significantly to the extent that whichever way the market swings to, that’s the situation we will find ourselves and it is unhealthy.”

At the Trade Ministry, Adebayo congratulated her on her appointment and highlighted the country’s expectations regarding expansion of trade; and engagements in ongoing negotiations and discussions.

He said Nigeria is also asking for help from the WTO “to help facilitate trade under the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and enhance the ease of doing business, strengthen manufacturing, and also get women involved and support Nigeria in driving economic inclusive growth by paying special attention to the contributions of women.”