Kelechi Esogwa
A business promoter in Port Harcourt, Larry Ajiola, has called on the federal government to try and implement at least 75% of Nigeria’s budget which he said will be enough to bring about a reasonable change in the nation’s economy.
According to him, the perennial cases of unemployment, underdevelopment and economic hardship will become things of the past the moment the nation’s leadership begin to channel the resources to areas that will impact on the citizenry positively.
Larry Ajiola said this during the international entrepreneur business summit and exhibition held in Port Harcourt from Tuesday, October 29 to Thursday (yesterday), October 31, 2019.
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He said: “The vision is to make sure I reduce unemployment in the country and make everybody in Nigeria become an entrepreneur just as it is in Finland, the United Kingdom and other European countries. If 75% of the budget can be implemented, Nigeria will change. Our leaders should help the masses.”
Ajiola, who said the vision of his organization, OGACONN IEBS, is to reduce unemployment in Rivers State in particular and Nigeria in general through business promotion, sourcing of funds and good connections for emerging businessmen, warned that until every Nigerian embraces entrepreneurship, the nation will not move forward economically.
Ajiola, who said that he would take 25 companies in Nigeria to Finland to access grants after the business summit, added that integrity, courage and perseverance are values necessary for any entrepreneur to succeed.
Author of the book, Science and Arts of Living, Sunes Godwin, told the participants that struggle is part of entrepreneurship as no worthwhile dream is birthed without a struggle.
He said: “In the 21st century, entrepreneurship is beyond goods and direct sales. As an entrepreneur, you need to have a risk-taking mindset. As an entrepreneur, study your environment and look for solutions to problems. If you embrace your challenges, you will grow but if you resent your challenges, you will growl.”
In his own presentation, Comrade Atuma said there is a need for everybody to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, arguing that without entrepreneurship, there will not be development.
He called on all the youths of Rivers State, Niger Delta and Nigeria, to look inwards and find out the problems they can solve in their various communities, noting that by doing so, they will gradually become self-reliant and begin to create jobs for themselves and other unemployed youths, which he said is what entrepreneurship is all about.
Mrs Ukomadu Ogechi, Director (Admin), Ministry of Power, Rivers State, who participated in the business summit as a delegate from her ministry, described the event as fulfilling.
She told TPCN shortly after the summit: “It’s a wonderful programme. Government can’t employ everybody, so activities like this help people to know how to employ themselves as support, especially when they retire. Civil servants should do something to get extra income,” she said.
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