Okonjo-Iweala Urges African Leaders to Innovate as Foreign Aid Declines

WTO Chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls on African leaders to embrace innovation and self-sufficiency as access to international aid diminishes.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has urged African leaders to seek internal funding opportunities for the continent.

“Access to aid, we can perhaps start considering as a thing of the past,” stated the former Nigerian finance minister at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

According to a former World Bank developmental economist, Africa must shift its mindset and recognize the opportunities amid the apparent challenges posed by the halt in billions of dollars of global funding for U.S. health and education projects worldwide.

Okonjo-Iweala emphasized the necessity for African leaders to draw in investments and mobilize resources to navigate the current social and economic challenges arising from the policies of Donald Trump’s presidency.