The Chairman, United Bank for Africa, who is also the founder of Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, has urged the federal government to create conducive and enabling environment for small scale businesses to thrive, so as to pave way for the realization of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term dream of lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty in the next four years.
He made the call in Kano during the 35th convocation ceremony of the Bayero University in which he was conferred a honourary doctorate degree in business administration over his laudable efforts in human capital development across the African continent.
Elumelu expressed optimism that Buhari could achieve the feat if the government could create more opportunities for young entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into businesses that employ labour.
He said: “There are variety of ways to lift hundred of citizens out of poverty but two clearly stand out and two are very dear to me. One is increasing the number of jobs in the economy and two is creating more opportunities for our young entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into more businesses that employ labour.
“The federal government must play its leadership role by creating the enabling environment and conducive infrastructure that enables the creation of jobs and economic opportunities for our youth fold.
He urged the government to abolish multiple taxations for small businesses and make business to become easier by prioritising SMEs trainings and capacity development.
He said the exigencies of the moment had underscored the need for quick action, saying: “Our population growth rate is faster than our economic growth rate, so we know what will happen if we do not bridge that gap.”
