Grow Nigeria first: Advocates Trade Minister, Oduwole

Grow Nigeria first: so seems to be the advocacy of Industry, Trade, and Investment Minister, Jumoke Oduwole as she advises the government to focus on strengthening local businesses before seeking foreign investment.  She emphasized that domestic companies are the best representatives of Nigeria’s economy.  During an interview on Arise TV, Oduwole discussed how improving Nigeria’s business environment—through regulatory reforms, better bureaucracy, and updates to the legislative and judicial systems—would support the growth and expansion of local businesses.  A thriving domestic sector, she argued, would naturally attract foreign investors looking for reliable local partners.  Oduwole also highlighted her ministry’s commitment to bolstering the agricultural sector, including revitalizing commodity exchanges and ensuring farmers receive fair compensation for their efforts.  She reaffirmed her dedication to fulfilling promises made during her Senate screening and ensuring that Nigeria’s policies align with its economic goals.

SMEDAN Empowers 40 Entrepreneurs With Laptops, ICT Skills

The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has trained and empowered 40 entrepreneurs with Information Communication Technology (ICT) and digital skills in Ebonyi. The Director-General of SMEDAN, Dr Olawale Fasanya, said this during the closing ceremony of a three-day training and empowerment programme held in Abakaliki on Friday. The programme was targeted at young entrepreneurs to improve micro small and medium enterprises. Fasanya, who was represented by Mr Chigozie Asochukwu, SMEDAN Coordinator in Ebonyi, said that the importance of ICT in doing business cannot be over-emphasised. He said the empowerment programme, which was in collaboration with Dole International Company Ltd., was aimed at giving business owners e-commerce know-how to increase their contributions to the nation’s GDP. He reiterated the agency’s commitment to business growth, urging the beneficiaries to practice what they had learnt. “This will go a long way in enhancing productivity, customer engagement and give the entrepreneurs a competitive advantage in doing businesses. “It will help in digital knowledge and tools needed to grow businesses online as well as enable efficient communication, data management and analysis. “This is a three-day training and the participants were engaged in three module including Google digital skills, digital market fundamental and business formalisation,” Fasanya said. Mr Njoku Ozoemena, who spoke on behalf of “City Boys Movement”, said the training became necessary to enhance e-commerce in the country. Ozoemena hailed the Federal Government for putting up the programme and urged the trainees to utilise the knowledge. One of the beneficiaries, Kelechi Njoku, lauded SMEDAN for exposing them to modern skills for business and pledged to utilise what she had learnt. The agency later gave laptops to the trainees to enable them promote their businesses. 

REA begins PUE implementation, targets 24,500 MSMEs

The Rural and Electrification Agency (REA) has started implementing the productive use of equipment and appliances (PUE) for rural and underserved communities. The Agency said the PUE would ensure unhindered access to energy-efficient and electric-productive equipment for rural communities. The PUE would also encourage the use of low-cost productive appliances in unserved and underserved communities to improve rural productivity, economic growth, and also rural development. REA, through its Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), aims to provide 24,500 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) with energy-efficient productive use appliances, while ensuring that 1,050,000 people have improved access to energy services. Mr. Speaking at the grant agreement signing for the productive use of the equipment and appliances, Managing Director of the REA, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, said the support from African Development Bank Group AfDB would drive the sustainability of off-grid energy infrastructure across communities in the country. “We are here for the Grant Agreement Signing for the Productive Use Appliances Component of the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) under the African Development Bank funding stream. “At REA, our mandate is to provide access to electricity to unserved and underserved households and MSMEs in rural communities of Nigeria. The Agency from inception, has continued to collaborate and support private-sector participation in our dedication and commitment to achieve this mandate. “Beyond keeping the lights on, we are very deliberate about the optimization of productive use equipment and appliances to catalyze socio-economic development in off-grid communities,” he said.