Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said rising geopolitical tensions and the restructuring of global supply chains offer Nigeria and the rest of Africa a unique opportunity to industrialise, attract investment and climb global value chains, provided governments implement reforms that make their economies more competitive.
Gatekeepers News reports that Okonjo-Iweala made the remarks on Wednesday during a fireside chat with Olayemi Cardoso at the seventh Africa Emerging Markets Forum in Abuja.
She acknowledged that the global economy is facing an era of trade fragmentation and geopolitical uncertainty but urged countries to focus on the opportunities emerging from the crisis rather than its challenges.
“We are in a very difficult era multilaterally, but the way I look at the world is to always look at what are the opportunities within crises,” she said.
“If you don’t think that way, you get paralysed, you become despondent, and you think everything is going wrong.
“When you really look at what is happening within this crisis, you can see opportunities for a country like Nigeria and Africa as a whole.”
According to the WTO chief, multinational companies are increasingly seeking to diversify their production and sourcing networks following vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and growing geopolitical tensions.
She said Africa should position itself to capture part of that investment rather than allowing it to continue flowing primarily to Asia and Latin America.
“Those leading important global supply chains in different sectors from automobiles to pharmaceuticals, furniture and many others, are looking to diversify, and that is where we in Africa can do better to attract these supply chains,” she said.
“It will not fall on our lap. We have competition in Latin America and Asia.”
Okonjo-Iweala also highlighted West Africa’s vast deposits of critical minerals used in renewable energy technologies and electric vehicle batteries, calling for greater regional collaboration in building value chains.
“I see chances for critical mineral supply chains linked to renewable energy because we have some of the critical minerals,” she said.
“I don’t think it should just be a country-by-country affair. I think we need to think of subregional supply chains that take us from processing all the way to EV batteries or something along that line.”
She, however, questioned whether Nigeria was prepared to implement the governance, infrastructure and regulatory reforms needed to attract long-term investment.
“Are we willing to do what it takes, the right leadership, governance, structure, infrastructure, to make this work?” she asked.
“Are we going to do away with those administrative obstacles when businesses want to invest and they have to run from one office to the other?
“Are we going to do our usual thing and manage it… or are we going to be excellent and attract some of those opportunities?”
Her comments come amid shifting global trade patterns following geopolitical conflicts, including disruptions to crude oil and refined petroleum product supplies caused by tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran around the Strait of Hormuz.
Reforms Must Benefit Nigerians
Okonjo-Iweala also urged the Federal Government to ensure that ongoing economic reforms translate into tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians through increased job creation and stronger growth in the real economy.
While commending reforms implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), she stressed that macroeconomic stability alone would not guarantee public support unless citizens begin to experience the benefits.
“My challenge is how to get this into the real economy because until Nigerians can begin to see the benefits of the reforms, it will not be easy to get public support,” she said.
“I would want you to work with the other members of the economic team to push this excellence into the real economy so that we can create opportunities and jobs for young people.”
The WTO director-general further called for stronger implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), describing it as one of Africa’s most effective tools for boosting intra-African trade and reducing dependence on external markets.
“Why can’t we move from 20 percent trade among ourselves?” she asked.
“The EU is at 60 percent. I’m not saying we’ll get there, but even if we could double over the next five or six years, let’s trade among ourselves.”
She said Africa’s youthful population and expanding middle class could become significant drivers of economic growth if governments invest in skills development and employment.
“We will have 800 million Africans who will be middle class by 2050,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
“One in four people of working age in the world will be African, so we have a lot going for us.
“But it won’t happen unless we drive it.”
Expand Non-Oil Exports, Mobilise Domestic Capital
On recent US tariff measures affecting Nigerian exports, Okonjo-Iweala said the country should focus on expanding and diversifying its exports rather than worrying about tariff rates.
“I’m not so worried about this 12.5 percent because what are we exporting?” she said.
“We have to start exporting more things.
“We need to expand the sources of growth in the economy. We need to expand the sources of trade. We need to add value to our products, and we need to trade more.”
She also urged Nigeria to mobilise more domestic capital instead of relying heavily on foreign financing, warning that global investment flows are becoming increasingly constrained.
“The world is no longer going to be the way it was,” she said.
“We can’t expect the same flows of resources, whether it’s aid. Investment flows will not be coming in the way they did unless we change certain things.”
Okonjo-Iweala added that domestic investors must first have confidence in the economy before foreign investors can be expected to commit capital, stressing that Nigeria has significant local resources that can be mobilised to support economic growth.
