Okonjo-Iweala urges Nigeria to sustain reforms, manage debt cautiously

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has urged Nigeria to sustain its ongoing economic reforms while exercising caution in debt contracting and management, stressing that the country must create jobs and ensure citizens feel the benefits of the reforms.

Okonjo-Iweala made the call on Wednesday during a fireside conversation with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, at the 7th Africa Emerging Markets Forum in Abuja.

The forum, themed Building Resilience Amidst Geoeconomic Uncertainties, was organised by the CBN in collaboration with the Emerging Markets Forum and the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa.

Commending the monetary and foreign exchange reforms introduced by the CBN, the WTO chief said Nigeria should remain committed to macroeconomic reforms while maintaining fiscal discipline.

She said, “Nigeria needs to continue the work on overall macroeconomic reforms with a careful approach to fiscal issues, contracting of debt, and debt management. Above all, Nigeria needs to focus on creating jobs and economic opportunities for a young and hungry population. Nigerians have to feel the dividends of reform in the real economy.”

Okonjo-Iweala said that despite geopolitical tensions and policy uncertainty, global trade remained resilient, disclosing that the value of global goods and services trade reached a record $34.65tn in 2025, up seven per cent from the previous year.

She argued that predictions of widespread trade fragmentation had not materialised, noting that about 72 per cent of global goods trade still flowed under World Trade Organisation rules.

She also urged African countries to seize opportunities arising from global supply chain diversification, particularly in critical minerals, saying the continent should move beyond exporting raw materials to building regional value chains and processing industries.

“For Africa in particular, instead of the extract-and-export model… the goal should be higher value, higher productivity growth driven by the development of sub-regional value chains,” she said, warning that Africa could miss a major opportunity if it failed to act now.

Also speaking, Cardoso said Africa must convert global disruptions into opportunities through stronger institutions, deeper regional integration and greater investment in technology.

He observed that trade fragmentation, increasingly selective capital flows and rapid advances in artificial intelligence were reshaping the global economy.

“For Africa and other emerging markets, the question is no longer whether the global order is changing, but how we turn that change from a source of vulnerability into a source of growth and shared prosperity,” he said.

The CBN governor lamented that intra-African trade still accounted for only about 16 per cent of the continent’s total trade and called for stronger regional value chains, improved transport infrastructure, harmonised customs systems and faster cross-border payments under the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Cardoso also said Africa should rely more on domestic savings, pension funds, insurance assets and diaspora capital to finance development, arguing that investors increasingly rewarded economies with policy consistency, transparency and credible institutions.

He urged African countries to become creators rather than consumers of artificial intelligence by investing in digital infrastructure, electricity, connectivity and young talent.

Reflecting on Nigeria’s reforms, Cardoso said the CBN had unified the foreign exchange market, restored price discovery, ended monetary financing of fiscal deficits and strengthened transparency.

“Today, the results of those sacrifices are evident. Inflation has moderated from high levels despite the energy shock. External buffers have strengthened, and the financial system is safer and better capitalised,” he said.

Delivering a keynote presentation, the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President for Development Economics, Indermit Gill, urged developing countries, including Nigeria, not to be distracted by fears surrounding artificial intelligence.

He argued that AI presented greater opportunities than risks for developing economies because it would largely complement rather than replace workers.

“If you’re a Nigerian, tune it out,” Gill said of the pessimism surrounding AI. “There is a danger that countries like Nigeria… will miss this industrial revolution.”

He advised developing countries to focus on adapting AI technologies to local conditions rather than attempting to compete directly with advanced economies in developing frontier AI models.

He also recommended prioritising predictive AI for agriculture, healthcare, education and judicial services, saying it offered the highest returns for countries such as Nigeria.

In his goodwill message, the Deputy Governor of the CBN, Corporate Services, Dr Muhammed Abdullahi, said Nigeria’s recent reforms had begun addressing long-standing distortions in the foreign exchange market.

He said verified legacy foreign exchange obligations exceeding $7bn had been settled, gross external reserves had risen to $52.52bn as of July 17, while net usable reserves had recovered to more than $43bn.

According to him, inflation had eased, non-oil exports had increased by 38.7 per cent year-on-year, and monthly portfolio investment inflows had climbed from $0.33bn in January 2023 to more than $2bn by January 2025.

“Nigeria’s experience shows that recovery is possible when difficult reforms are backed by consistent and disciplined policy,” Abdullahi said.

The Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, Dr Chukwuka Onyekwena, described the forum as a platform for evidence-based dialogue at a time of profound global economic transformation.

He said Africa faced both risks and opportunities arising from geopolitical tensions, technological change, climate pressures and shifting financial conditions, adding that the continent must transform these challenges into sustainable and inclusive growth.

Similarly, the Founding Director and Chief Executive of the Emerging Markets Forum, Harinder Kohli, described Africa as the world’s “ultimate frontier for economic development”, saying the continent deserved greater global attention.

He noted that the Abuja meeting was the seventh Africa Emerging Markets Forum and the largest in the organisation’s history, bringing together policymakers, academics, central bankers and development experts from across Africa and other parts of the world to discuss monetary policy, artificial intelligence, urbanisation, investment and job creation.