Elumelu Suggests Ways To Get Millions Out Of Poverty

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Banking mogul and Philanthropist, 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.

Elumelu, who is the Chairman, UBA Plc and also founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, made the call, Sunday, in Kano during the 35th convocation ceremony of the Bayero University Kano where he was conferred a honourary Doctorate Degree in Business Administration over his laudable efforts over the years in human capital development across the African continent.

He said, “There are variety of ways to lift hundreds of citizens out of poverty but two clearly stand out and two are very dear to me. One, 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 enable the creation of jobs and economic opportunities for our youth fold.”

Elumelu emphasized the importance of collaboration between the public and private sector to create more jobs on the continent.

According to him, “Our young people need jobs that governments and big corporates alone cannot provide. By promoting entrepreneurship, creating favourable policies and building infrastructure to help these entrepreneurs, we enable them to create jobs, and become employers of labour”.

He then urged government to abolish multiple taxation for small businesses and make business become easier by prioritising SMEs training and capacity development.

Elumelu also asked state and local governments to explore and leverage on areas they have comparative advantage to attract investments that would transform the economic fortunes of the areas.

Speaking on why the philanthropist was honoured, the Vice Chancellor, Bayero University, Prof. Muhammad Yahuza Bello, said Elumelu’s conferment was in honour of his immense contribution to human capital development across Africa and especially in Northern Nigeria.

In 2010, Elumelu and his family, through the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Africa’s leading philanthropy, have committed $100 million to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs in 10 years.

Half-way through the commitment, he has empowered 7,520 African entrepreneurs across 54 African countries, almost 1000 of the entrepreneurs are from Northern Nigeria, who have received $5,000 non-refundable seed capital, access to mentors and an intensive 12-week business training.

In addition to the current beneficiaries, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently partnered with Tony Elumelu Foundation to empower an additional 1,000 African entrepreneurs from the seven countries in Africa’s Sahel and Lake Chad regions, including the Northern Nigerian region.

By the end of 2019, total beneficiaries of the Tony Elumelu Foundation will be 8,520.