Don Lists Panacea To Unemployment

A university lecturer, Professor Akin Oluwale has called for the introduction of entrepreneurship education in the nation’s school curricular to serve as catalyst for revitalisation of enterprise culture in the country as well as curb problems of unemployment.

Professor Oluwale who made the call on Saturday in an interview with The Tide during the burial ceremony of late Amaoge Micheal Mpi at Isiokpo, headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, said the nation’s realisation of the vision 2020 project may not be actualised without the promotion and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Oluwale who is a lecturer in University of Ibadan described Small and Medium Enterprises as the engine that propel growth in any viable economy, noting that SMEDAN was established in 2003 and was conceived as “One stop shop” to promote the development of the SME sector of Nigerian economy.

The Professor of economics maintained that the SMEs ought to provide the bulk of employment which he said, hovers between 67 and 97 per cent of all available jobs in the country, stressing, that because of a number of factors, amongst which include the limited capital required to start a small business, not much has been achieved.

He enjoined relevant agencies and stakeholders to strategies, with a view to providing single digit financial windows to MSMEs as well as converting the 22 existing Industrial Development Centres (IDGs) to enterprise clusters.