The Central Bank of Nigeria is seeking fresh collaboration with the nation’s universities to develop entrepreneurship programmes for the younger generation.
The Central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this, while delivering the 51st Convocation Lecture of the University of Lagos on National Development And Knowledge Economy In The Digital Age: Leapfrogging SMEs Into The Century.
He assured that the bank would write management of the universities in the next few months on how the it could support the institutions to create research and training programmes aimed at making the Nigerian youths self-employed when they graduate.
He said agriculture held huge potential to unlock mass employment and transform the country’s economy, adding that achieving food security was a major target.
Emefiele added that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would need to fully harness the benefits of a knowledge-based and digital economy to contribute maximally to economic growth and inclusive development.
He further said some of the activities include enabling SMEs to leverage their movable assets to obtain capital from financial institutions, and development of credit reporting agencies, which would encourage SMEs to maintain good credit ratings in order to obtain access to credit at a relatively lower cost from financial institutions.
An alumnus of UNILAG and chairman of the Convocation Lecture, Tunde Bakare, said no value-adding ideas should be allowed to die for lack of funds.
He charged the graduating students to aspire for greatness against all odds, adding: “It is time the government provided uninterrupted power supply to stimulate entrepreneurship” and enjoined relevant authorities to embrace smart technology to unlock economic potential.
Also speaking, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said entrepreneurship was crucial to UNILAG’s vision, which informed its dream of producing 5,000 entrepreneurs yearly, saying that its entrepreneurship centre was developed in line with its vision.
