Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has urged the government to support more women in Nigeria in their enterprise to improve the economy.
The WTO head said this when she visited the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Paulline Tallen yesterday in Abuja.
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She said there is the challenge on how to assist women entrepreneurs so that they move from the small thing they do to bigger ones.
“We are already working in Nigeria. I found out that we have been assisting a cooperative of women producing shea butter in Oyo state where we helped them to upgrade.
“They couldn’t export before because the quality of their products but the International World Trade Centre, which is an offshoot of the WTO helped them in 2014 to upgrade the quality of their products and today they are exporting to Egypt, Dubai, Jordan, US and UK to cosmetic producers and they have gone from just a few tonnes to several tonnes of shea butter.”
In her remarks, Mrs Tallen said; “Women are working and making plans to see how Nigerian women are great entrepreneurs. They have done so much and so many of them have been so frustrated in their various businesses but God has brought you to this seat to salvage us, to salvage great Nigerian women entrepreneurs.”
The First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari represented by Hajo Sani lauded the WTO DG for the appointment.
“You are a role model. We want women in positions to actually play their role as models so that the younger generation of women can emulate.”
