The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has received the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at the State House in Abuja on Monday.

Okonjo-Iweala, a former Minister of Finance in Nigeria, visited the President weeks after she was appointed as the WTO DG.

She was welcomed at the Villa by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Ambassador Maryam Katagum and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.

Okonjo-Iweala had also visited the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, where she was received by the Minister, Zainab Ahmed.

In a State House press briefing, Okonjo-Iweala said she had to visit the President to thank him for the support he provided.

“I felt I had to come to Nigeria first, to say thank you, to Mr President; to thank him for his nomination and his support, he signed so many letters, he talked to so many people,” she said.

“I want to say a special thank you to young people in Nigeria. They were on social media sending so many encouraging videos.”

Answering a question on the Dangote Refinery, the largest single-train refinery in the world, she said, “I wish we had done it years ago. If we had done it years ago and encouraged Alhaji Dangote, who is doing a good thing, we’d be producing our own fuel today.”

Some of the issues she discussed with President Buhari include improving Nigeria’s share of global trade, developing Nigeria’s services sector, Covid-19, attracting investment, training and capacity building, and safe schools.