The 1st Occupier of Dr Mike Adenuga (Jnr) Professional Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies, Prof Sunday Adebisi, has provided 14 practical solutions to move Nigeria forward.
Adebisi, a professor in Business Administration at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, provided the solutions during his speech at the second special lecture of Mike Adenuga (Jnr) Professorial Chair in Entrepreneurial studies titled: “Navigating the Present Stormy Nigerian Economy: The New Enterprise Nigeria as the Anchorage”.
According to him, the solutions included fit-for-purpose infrastructural projects, 25 years food security plan and integration of all ministries’ activities in synchronization with Nigerian needs.
He said if ideally implemented, the 14 solutions that would help the country come out of its economy quagmire, adding that: “All the unpalatable indexes and storms of unemployment, poverty, high Human Development Index (HDI), inflation and other social challenges usually occur most times, due to the inability of the government and society to create decent jobs”.
“The main solution for Nigeria to combat all these storms is a purposeful and intentional focus on innovation and entrepreneurship dedicated to value creations in all facets of the Nigerians’ life”, he said, citing China, Singapore and South Korea as examples of countries that boosted their economies by adopting aggressive job creation and intentional massive investment in entrepreneurship.
“The totality of China, Singapore, South Korea and Indonesia today is innovation and entrepreneurship; it is their forte and culture of global competitive relevance and wealth creation’, he added, stating that there is no alternative to this by a nation like Nigeria being plagued by numbers of present social challenges and chaos.
The Professor noted that many of the previous social programmes deployed by the previous leaders of Nigeria have not been able to rescue the country from the storms we found ourselves in.
Emphasizing that a look at the past social investment programmes by different Nigeria’s regimes shows that there were no singular handshakes between any successive governments to continue what the previous administration had started, Adebisi said: “Even administrations from the same party origin never continued one another’s project because it is usually the political elites’ programmes and not the citizens’ programmes”.
The Professor also observed that: “If they had instituted the programmes jointly developed, and co-owned by citizens, the leaders’ mentality would be impossible because citizens are the same irrespective of the ruling parties or persons hence, they will defend the programmes that have positively impacted on them”.
In her speech, the Unilag Vice-Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, who called on Nigerians to invest in education, and entrepreneurs to address the prevailing economic challenges, said: “Our workforce has the potential to be productive and I’m using this opportunity to call on all Nigerians to invest in education, entrepreneurship and research; we also need new thinking to solve the problems of the world of today and take on the issues of the future”.
Applauding the role of Entrepreneurial Studies Centre in bridging the gap between academic excellence and practical innovation among youngsters in Nigeria, the VC stated: “Today marks a milestone not only for our university but for the advancement of entrepreneurial education in Nigeria and beyond. The endowment of this Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies represents a forward-thinking vision to bridge the gap between academic excellence and practical innovation”
The Chairman of the special annual lecture, Ibukun Awosika, in her address, expressed delight at the insightful lecture from Professor Adebisi and promised to ensure that the solutions proffered get to the right authorities.
“Most times our leaders make decisions based on what they know; they don’t always mean harm with their decisions. If the message is not taken to them, they may not know the right way out of the economic quagmire”, Awosika said.
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State, who was represented on the occasion by his deputy, Olayide Adelami, disclosed that the state government has successfully supported over 25,000 young people in different areas of entrepreneurship since 2020.
He said, “We were being intentional in establishing the Ondo State Entrepreneurship Agency (ONDEA) to invest in our people to create values and support the economic growth of the state. I must tell you that the result has been phenomenal”, restating his administration’s commitment to promote entrepreneurship among young people and support start-ups in the state.
“Our state just hosted the largest Global Entrepreneurship Festival, where over 20,000 participants and several notable global investors converged in Akure to seek enterprise opportunities in the state in particular and Nigeria as a whole”, he added, pointing out that only a production economy would catalyze development in the country and that his administration is on top of its game in this direction.
Other dignitaries at the vent include: Taiwo Osipitan, chairman of DMA BOT; Ayodele Atsemuwa, deputy vice-chancellor, in charge of development services, Bola Oboh, deputy vice-chancellor academic and research; and Lucian Chukwu, deputy vice-chancellor, management services.
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