The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is calling on the Nigerian government to urgently introduce social safety nets to protect its poorest citizens from the economic hardship triggered by President Bola Tinubu’s sweeping reforms.
Speaking to journalists after meeting Tinubu at the Aso Villa in Abuja on Thursday, Okonjo-Iweala commends the administration’s policy direction — including petrol subsidy removal and foreign exchange unification — but warns of their human cost.
“You cannot really improve an economy unless it is stable. The President and his team have worked hard to stabilise the economy,” she says. “What is needed next is growth — and social safety nets so that people feeling the pinch can have support to weather the hardship.”
Since Tinubu took office in May 2023, Nigeria has faced surging food inflation and a spiralling cost of living. Public anger has spilled into the streets, with the August 2024 hunger protests and #EndBadGovernance demonstrations drawing global attention to the crisis.
The meeting comes just two weeks before Okonjo-Iweala’s second term as WTO chief begins on 1 September. She also updated the president on the Women’s Exporters’ Fund for the digital economy, jointly run by the WTO and the International Trade Centre, aimed at empowering Nigerian women entrepreneurs.
“Nigeria competed and won as one of only four countries globally to benefit,” she notes. Out of 67,000 applicants, 146 women will receive funding, including $5,000 grants for 100 startups and booster support for 16 established businesses.
Okonjo-Iweala — the first African and first woman to lead the WTO — stresses that targeted social and economic programmes can ease reform pain while boosting inclusive growth.
