WTO DG Calls For Social Safety Net By FG To Cushion Effects Of Economic Hardship On Poor Nigerians..Lauds Reform Policies

The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has asked the Federal Government to put social safety nets in place for poor Nigerians who are feeling the pains of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration economic reforms.

Okonjo-Iweala who was speaking on Thursday after a meeting with the president at the Aso Villa in Abuja, however commended the president for the economic reforms including petrol subsidy removal and the unification of the foreign exchange windows

The former Nigerian Finance Minister in a chat with newsmen, said government must put social safety nets in place for poor Nigerians to cope with the economic hardship occasioned by the government’s reforms.

The WTO boss added that the Tinubu's administration team had worked very hard to stabilize the economy 

“We think that the President and his team have worked hard to stabilize the economy. You cannot really improve an economy unless it is stable. So, he has to be given the credit for the stability of the economy. The reforms have been in the right direction".

“What is needed next is growth; we now need to grow the economy and we need to put in social safety nets so that people who are feeling the pinch of the reforms can also have some support to weather the hardship. That’s the next step.”

Tinubu, who launched a string of economic reforms when he assumed office in May 2023, has come under heavy criticism in over two years, as many Nigerians have attributed soaring food inflation and skyrocketing cost of living to his removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of foreign exchange windows.

Angry citizens have held a number of rallies to protest the hardship faced by the middle class and ordinary citizens in the last two years, the most prominent of them being the hunger protests or #EndBadGovernance demonstrations of August 2024.