Young entrepreneurs laud Saraki’s promotion of made in Nigeria goods

The Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (YEN), has commended the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki for consistently leading, articulating and promoting practical initiatives that will ignite the growth of youth entrepreneurship, create jobs and reduce unemployment in the country.

YEN seeks to empower youth entrepreneurs with finance, capacity building, network, business tools and also champion the cause of young entrepreneurs at local, regional and national levels to curb unemployment amongst youths in Nigeria and enhance national productivity.

The National President of the Association, Chris Kohol, in a statement expressed this against the backdrop of a series of positive actions taken by the Senate under the Saraki’s leadership, which he said have the potential to make youth involvement in entrepreneurship more attractive and profitable.

Some of these actions include the historic amendment of the Procurement Bill, making it mandatory for government agencies to patronise locally made goods; the Made In Nigeria Campaign, to encourage Nigerians to patronise and take pride in locally manufactured goods; and his recent call for youths to take advantage of the Agriculture Financing Bill, which has been passed by the Senate.

Kohol argued that Saraki has consistently advocated youth empowerment, which, according to him, would create a ready market backed by a strong demand to strengthen existing small scale businesses and opportunities for the millions of unemployed youths to get involved and take charge of their lives.

His said: “The actions of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki show that he cares about youth development. This demonstrates that he is a true friend of youths in Nigeria. He never misses a chance to speak about the importance of youths to national economic development and the need for government to closely engage and evolve programmes that will help youths take charge of their lives instead of waiting for white collar jobs that are non-existent.”

Similarly, the YEN Executive Secretary Dr. Olufemi Olayemi, noted that members are impressed with the commitment shown by the Senate President, who has maintained that growing and building a stronger economy and getting Nigeria out of recession cannot be complete without youth mobilisation and participation. This, he said is because of the population of 182 million, an estimated 60 million young people between the ages of 18-35 are unemployed, and making the business environment legally, economically and socially viable is the best way forward.