Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has revealed that a carefully planned communication strategy was instrumental in Nigeria’s successful campaign for debt relief from the Paris Club during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Recounting her experience as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, she said she was recruited from the World Bank in 2003 to help stabilise the country’s fragile finances and negotiate the cancellation of Nigeria’s debt to the Paris Club of creditors. “I had been brought in from the World Bank to help straighten up and strengthen Nigeria’s weak finances, including getting rid of about $30bn of the country’s debt owed to the Paris Club. Nigeria secured a landmark debt relief agreement with the Paris Club in 2005, leading to the cancellation of about $18bn—roughly 60 per cent—of its nearly $30bn bilateral debt. While acknowledging the country’s numerous challenges, Chidoka said Nigeria’s greatest hope lies in the resilience, creativity and enterprise of its people.