The Nigerian government has reaffirmed its commitment to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the global multilateral trading system, noting that no country can prosper in isolation from the global community.
Nigeria’s Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima, who made this pledge on Saturday during a meeting with the Director-General of the WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on the sidelines of the ongoing BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi, India, maintained that the President Bola Ahmed-led administration would continue to strengthen Nigeria’s multilateralism and promote a global system built on cooperation rather than isolation.
He said: “I believe the world is greater than one nation. We will continue to support the WTO in championing the cause of multilateralism. We are essentially one human family and interconnected. You cannot divorce yourself from the global community.
“Nations are built by immigrants. Even cities are built by people who came from outside, not just by the locals. That goes to show that we have so much to gain from global migration”, the Vice President added.
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Shettima explained that Nigerians in diaspora had been distinguishing themselves where they are located globally through education, enterprise and professional achievement.
According to him, recent Pew Research Center analysis of 2024 US Census Bureau data showed that 67 per cent of Nigerian-born Black immigrants aged 25 and above in the United States held at least a bachelor’s degree, the highest proportion among the major Black immigrant groups examined.
The Vice President commended Dr Okonjo-Iweala for her leadership roles at the WTO, adding the she should continue deploying her experience in the service of the global trade organization for sustainable growth of global economies,
Shettima said: “You are doing a very wonderful job at the WTO, but you still have a lot to contribute to humanity.”
