Tinubu Is Aware Nigerians Are Suffering, Says Okonjo-Iweala

Director General of World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said President Bola Tinubu is aware of the hardship being experienced by Nigerians since the removal of fuel subsidy.

Okonjo-Iweala said this while addressing newsmen on Tuesday after meeting with President Tinubu at the State House, Abuja in the company of former Minister of State for Health and Minister-designate, Dr. Mohammed Pate.

She said that the reason for her visit to Tinubu was to discuss how to help in reducing the level of poverty in Nigeria.

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“That is what is needed now, helping Nigerians to alleviate the difficult conditions that they are in,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

“Our conversation with the president centred on formulating approaches aimed at job creation, fostering women’s empowerment and bolstering digital trade within Nigeria’s economy.

“This was not really an official WTO mission, but we were able to engage with Mr President to talk about what are the kinds of programmes that could be put in place to make sure that Nigerians are okay.

“We had a conversation on trying to look at the community and grassroots programmes that can be put in place to create jobs for young people trying to sup­port women and children who are bearing the brunt of some of the suffering in the country.”

Okonjo-Iweala further said that the visit afforded them the opportunity to also talk about investment for the longer term in many other sectors in Nigeria including the pharmaceutical industry.

“We also talked about what type of support the WTO, the World Trade Organization, can bring,” she added.

“We are already working in Nigeria with women in particular, who own small and medium enterprises, to try to help them upgrade the quality of their products, whether it’s in the agricultural area, textiles, and in other areas so that they can sell more internationally.

“We are trying to help them with digital trade. The wave of the future is digital trade. So, how do we train and empower Nigerian women and small and medium enterprises throughout the country, to create more jobs?

“That is what is needed now in Nigeria to alleviate these difficult conditions that the people are in.

“So, that is what we discussed with Mr. President and as the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, we are going to try to do the most we can to support Nigerians at this particular time.”

Pate who is the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAVI, the global vaccine alliance, said that Tinubu is actively working to ameliorate the suffering and pains of the citizens.