The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has charged the Abia Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti, to run clean and transparent governance.

Okonjo-Iweala said the incoming government should focus on “disruptive strategies rather than traditional operational systems”.

She gave the charge in a speech she presented virtually at the inauguration of the 100-member 2023 Abia Transition Council held in Aba, Abia’s economic hub.

She said: “I told the governor-elect that everything we will do would depend on this governance.

“Nigerians, especially from that side of the South-East, have lost faith in governance.

“They no longer believe the government can provide anything for them.

“They provide for themselves boreholes, electricity and every other thing for themselves.

“Although that is entrepreneurial, on the other hand, that is not how to run the place,” the Nigeria-born economic expert said.

She urged Otti to run a “better and cleaner governance” and transparent governance that should be exemplary.

Okonjo-Iweala also urged Abia citizens abroad, who have the capacity to assist in recovering the state and upgrade development, to return and help out.

She expressed the hope that through Otti, “there is a unique chance to set Abia on the right side of development and modernisation through disruptive digital technology”.

She advised the governor-elect to think of how to make Abia function in line with the modern world and join the train into the future of humanity.