- Rumours broke on social media that she said she was under attack over her visit to the president
The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has debunked speculations that she said she came “under attack” after her visit to President Bola Tinubu.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that the WTO boss met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
After her visit, rumours broke on social media that she said she was under attack over her visit to the president.
However, reacting via her Twitter handle on Wednesday, Okonjo-Iweala said the statement was “wickedly false and designed to create mischief among Nigerians.”
She wrote, “It has just been brought to my attention that there is a false statement circulating on WhatsApp attributed to me saying that I am being attacked for my visit to President Tinubu. That statement circulating is false; in fact, in fact wickedly false designed to create mischief among Nigerians. Please disregard the statement [sic].
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that during her visit to Tinubu, Okonjo-Iweala said that the President was committed to improving the lives of Nigerians.
She also said as the person at the helm of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, she would, alongside her team, do her best to support Nigeria at this difficult time.
The WTO DG, flanked by the former Minister of State for Health during the Goodluck Jonathan, Mohammed Ali Pate, said they saw the President and that the focus of their discussion was on what they would do to support Nigeria.
She said they were contemplating a grassroot programme they could put in place to help young people as well as women.
She said the WTO would look at the kind of assistance it could give to the people on agriculture, textile and even in establishing pharmaceutical industry.
“We want to help them in digital trade, so they can create more jobs. We saw the President and the focus was on how do we support Nigerians at this time of need.
“We all know that things are very difficult for Nigerians outside, everyone is struggling. I’m here on a quiet visit. So this was not really an official WTO mission but we’re able to engage with the President, talk about what are the kinds of programmes that could be put in place to make sure the suffering of Nigerians are being alleviated.
“We had a really good 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.
“We talked about how for the longer term, we need to do that investment opportunities that Nigeria can seize, including the pharmaceutical industry.
“We also talked about what type of support the World Trade Organization can bring. We’re 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, in textiles and in other areas so that they can sell more internationally.
“We’re trying to help them with digital trade. So how do we train and empower Nigerian women and owners of small and medium enterprises so that they can trade more and create more jobs?
“So that is what’s needed now, helping Nigerians to alleviate the difficult conditions that they are in. That is what we discussed with the President and as the Director General of the World Trade Organization, we are going to try to do the most we can to support Nigerians at this particular time.’’