Indigenous entrepreneurship will stimulate economic growth – Fashola

By Oamen Areguamen

Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, has called for the encouragement of indigenous entrepreneurship as one of the strategies to fast track economic growth and development of the nation, even as he advised on the need to formulate sound economic polices capable of enhancing the growth of local businesses and investments within the economy.

He made these assertions through his representative, the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Adebiyi Fatai  Mabadeje, at a conference and award ceremony organised by Institute For Government Research and Leadership  Technology in Lagos.

He added, “Most industries have been operating far below their installed capacities due to limited market, the prevalence of foreign goods and erratic power supply, which brought about noticeable decline in the level of production leading to factory shut –down and eventual loss of jobs for thousands of workers.

“This in turn aggravated the level of poverty. We therefore need to harness our abundant resources to achieve economic development, growth and prosperity. It is only by so doing that we can support and guarantee the nation development”.

According to him, lack of basic social and economic infrastructure all over the country continue to pose challenges to the successful implementation of national development plan blueprint.

“Yet, the current zeal and determination by the Federal and State governments to run a market economy under the rule of law and due process holding enduring prospect for economic development and the ultimate success of vision 2020 is quite obvious. We need to look outside the oil and gas sector for relevance and reckoning among the top industrial nations,” he added.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Managing Director, Falcon Chemicals Nigeria Limited, Chief Tunde Adefarati, admonished producers to improve in the production method in order to ensure quality products, to enable them to penetrate the market.

“Falcon is an exclusive agent of microfine chemicals one of the best mineral processing company in the world.  We have the technology as specialist to identify, formulate, produce and supply the chemical needs of new and existing industries both small and medium scale as well as big industries. What makes the company to stand out is its ability to research fungicide that can combat fungi and algae that are exclusively present in the Nigeria environment”, Adefarati added.

The award ceremony, also used for the recognition of outstanding companies in various fields, attracted many companies from different regions across the country and top government functionaries.