By Adedapo Adesanya
The newly appointed Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has tasked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on measures that can be taken for Nigeria to absolve recession shocks.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who paid a visit to the CBN headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, March 16, also said strategies must be put in place to fully adopt digital economy as it has come to stay.
The WTO DG, who was received by a delegation led by CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said Nigeria has enough resources and opportunities to exit the recession.
“I think we have what it takes in the country, particularly our young people to do the necessary which is to move forward as to how we are going to create jobs and move this economy in the direction that would support our youths in the future.
“There are opportunities that can be used in improving trade so that our economy can climb out of this pandemic recession that we are in faster than would have been the case,” she said.
According to the Geneva-based institution chief, the country also needs to embrace trade remedies and a digital economy to help Nigerian industries.
“WTO has what we call trade remedies. Without banning things we can be able to protect our industries against dumping and cheap imports if we use those remedies. We can use those remedies as a tool to help our industries.
“Digital Economy has come to stay and people are doing well there. We need to support our young people to make use of the digital economy,” she explained.
She added that this is a big task before the country and conversations must start in that direction and also the creative industry should not be neglected as it creates more jobs for the youths.
He added that Nigeria is open to business in any part of the world, a move which will he said create more jobs.
On his part, the apex bank Governor, Mr Emefiele, in response said the local industry should be given the room to grow as it would create more job opportunities, given the rate of high unemployment.
On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33.3 per cent, translating to some 23.2 million people.
The figure is Africa’s most populous nation’s highest in at least 13 years and the second-highest rate in the world.
The figure jumped from 27.1 per cent recorded in the second quarter.
Modupe Gbadeyanka