The Director- General World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, advocates for the participation of more women in leadership roles.
Okonjo- Iweala made the call on Saturday, May 11, 2024, while addressing a reporter after a meeting with Duchess of Sussex, Megan, and other women at the Nigerian Women in Leadership event which took place in Abuja.
According to her, women continue to face different challenges while trying to become leaders. She added that it is imperative to increase the percentage of women both in state and at the federal government levels.
The issues discussed on Saturday in the meeting with the Duchess centered on challenges women face, how to overcome them and how to improve the position of women in the country.
She said, ” How do we improve the position of women in the country? We have a very low percentage of women in the National Assembly and we have never had a woman as a governor let alone higher things.”
She also emphasized the fact that women have to fight to rise to those positions, but men have to also be in support of it because there can’t be 50 percent of the population not participating.
The DG WTO stated that the highlight of the meeting was when the Duchess spoke on her experience.
On the Nigeria’s trade deficit, Okonjo-Iweala spoke about the importance of the country to continue to diversify in order to add value to the economy.
She also spoke about the fact that the country has to do more in order to attract more investments not just from outside but from wealthy people in the country, while the government must ensure that they create the environment.
In her statement, this will persuade them to invest in certain productions and attract people from outside.
