16th August 2025, NewsOrient, Governance And Development, News, Business And Economy

There has been mixed reactions in Nigeria since the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, made her latest public comments on the state of the Nigerian economy.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian, who also served the country in the past as both the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister, reportedly commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for “stabilizing the economy” of Nigeria.

This comment, which the globally respected economist made while visiting Nigerian President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has become a source of heated debate between Nigerian government and her supporters on one side and the opposition on the other side.

While the government and her supporters have rolled out the drums to celebrate what they describe as the most credible endorsement of the government’s economic reform efforts, the opposition said the government and her supporters have missed the true message in Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s comments.

According to the opposition, the opening remarks in Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s speech, where she commended Nigerian government for allegedly stabilizing the economy, is just part of diplomatic courtesy expected of a top global economic leader in the position of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala while on an official visit to a sitting President.

It is wrong for the government and her praise singers to dance over one phrase of praise and ignore the full message, where Dr Okonjo-Iweala plainly advises Nigerian government to wake up and live up to the responsibility of growing the economy in order to save millions of citizens currently out of employment, starving and suffering.

According to the opposition, after the opening niceties, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala did not mince words in telling the Nigerian President and the Federal Government that to save starving and suffering Nigerians, there is an urgent need to “grow the economy.”

For example, ADC has formally criticised the Federal Government of Nigeria for ignoring the real message in the recent comments by the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on the state of the Nigerian economy, choosing instead to celebrate the headlines.”

A statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, alleged that government officials and their media surrogates have amplified only one soundbite from her remarks, where she credited the administration for “stabilising the economy,” while deliberately ignoring her more serious call for urgent measures to grow the economy and establish social safety nets for millions of Nigerian families suffering the negative impacts of the government’s reforms.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s recent comments on President Tinubu and the Nigerian economy have been seized upon by government officials and their media allies as if their scandalous implementation of hard reforms, which have condemned the majority of Nigerians to absolute poverty and destroyed millions of jobs, had received endorsement by the oracle herself. This is not correct.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala knows that a stable economy is one that is growing in real terms, led by jobs and productivity. She knows that a stable economy is one that is able to guarantee minimum standards of living for the people. She knows that economic stability that leaves the majority in grinding poverty is meaningless.

Therefore, what she’s really saying — which the government has chosen to ignore — is that the economy is not growing, jobs are not being created, and too many people are suffering as a direct consequence of President Tinubu’s ill-conceived and badly implemented reforms. These are the issues she wanted the government to address.

Like the international stateswoman that she is, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala prefaced her comments with the niceties befitting her stature by commending the administration for “stabilising the economy.” But, having done with that courtesy, she immediately highlighted the urgent need for job creation to bring succour to the ever-growing army of unemployed youths and others who lost their jobs as businesses shut down under the crushing weight of the Tinubu-led government. She said the government needs to urgently grow the economy to put money in people’s pockets — which means that whatever “stable economy” the government is celebrating has not translated into real relief for hundreds of millions of Nigerian families, and they need to change course,” ADC said

~ Published By NewsOrient Network

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