The Organisation of Youths of International Trade and Commerce (OYITC) has charged the Federal Government to wear to tackle the challenges of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by providing the required infrastructure to boost the sector.
President of the group, Chinedu Amadi, stated this recently while addressing members of the organisation during a workshop organised to enhance the fortunes of the MSMEs at the Technology Incubation Centre in Agege, Lagos.
Amadi said the workshop was organised to educate the entrepreneurs on better ways to run their businesses.
He said the training will help in ensuring that their products are well packaged and designed to meet international standards to enable them to compete favourably in the international market.
The businessman said the training would help the MSMEs firms earn foreign exchange for the producers and improve the country’s economy, The Trumpet gathered.
Amadi noted that there is a need for the government to collaborate with local manufacturers to enable the country to diversify the country’s economy from being over-dependent on oil and gas revenue.
He added that Nigeria’s overdependence on crude oil revenues impacted negatively on the country’s economy, especially in 2020 when the global economy experienced major lockdowns due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Amadi appealed to the Federal Government to assist MSMEs, who are into non-oil exports, adding: “We are talking about how we can change our non-oil export to attract foreign earning to better our lives. We need to look inwards and improve on our local products and foods.”
He further added that currently, Nigerian foods are in high demand abroad, adding that all we need now is how to better package them for more patronage.
Speaking in an interview with journalists, the organiser of the workshop, Michael Ukeje, said the purpose of the workshop was to encourage members to boost the export market, adding that the workshop was also aimed at teaching the participants how to better package their products for the export market.
According to him, at the end of the workshop, some products that meet the standard would be chosen and their producers given money as a form of empowerment to enable them to produce in large quantities.
Ukeje pleaded with entrepreneurs, who are yet to join the association to do so and boost their fortunes.
Earlier in his keynote address, a Project Consultant and Director of the Federal Institute for Research Organisation (FIRO), Olusola Omowumi, said that despite the fact oil had contributed significantly to the country’s revenues, crude oil earnings have not effectively alleviated poverty and unemployment in the country.
He stressed that if Nigeria really wants to be the real ‘giant of Africa’ as claimed by the government, efforts must be made by the government to do all within its power to diversify the economy.
