Entrepreneurship is key in addressing unemployment in Nigeria – Expert

An economic expert, Dr Eze Kennedy, has stressed the need for a reorientation among Nigerians to position the country as an export-oriented nation.

Kennedy, in an interview with our correspondence on Tuesday in Abuja, emphasised the need to promote entrepreneurship towards creating more jobs in Nigeria.

According to him, there is the need to exchange knowledge with other countries with a view to acquiring more knowledge critical in increasing productivity.

“You can only improve productivity when you learn and when you know it. But if you don’t know it, you are only experimenting.”

“When you keep learning over time you start applying it, it is not about Nigeria importing from different countries, but how do we change our orientation to become an export-oriented country.”

“It is not okay to say what do we buy from different countries but what do other countries buy from us, what technology do we have, no matter how small there is something you can sell.”

“When you talk about productivity and encounter somebody better than you before you know it you start learning. And there is no how Nigeria can do better without benchmarking the foreign organisations.”

“Entrepreneurship is the key to unemployment. When people are self-employed you see that one person employs the other.”

“Today, China has the biggest population in the world but China is not having the biggest unemployment rate in the world, people are engaging themselves.”

“Is it the government employing them? There are house hold companies, the man the wife and the family and they are running companies and exporting.”

“So, I think entrepreneurship is the key,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy, who is the Conference Director, Advance Africa Entrepreneurs Business Owners and Executives International Conference, said the conference would be a rallying point for the business community, government and industry experts to engage themselves.

It was reported that the three-day event, scheduled to hold in Abuja from Nov. 22, to Nov. 24, is with the theme “Empowering Business and Building a Virile Nation through Partnership”.

Kennedy said that the event would provide the platform for exchange of ideas and proffer solutions toward improving the business environment, better the economy, and promote investments and entrepreneur relations.

According to him, it will attract over 3,750 participants who will leverage on the platform for intellectual engagements to improve the business and economic situation.

“The event will expound on the prevailing opportunities in doing business in Africa and enabling organisations to showcase their products and services,” he added.