By Julius Alabi
Special Correspondent, Akure
All efforts should be made, including supporting the government, to make agrarian Ondo State one of the hubs of industrial development in the country.
Nigeria Association of Small Scale Industrialist (NASSI) State Chairman, Akintunde Greatsheyi, who made the call, stressed the importance of small scale industry to nation building as it is the channel for industrial growth.
He applauded the transformation agenda of Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his “achievements” which he described as a departure from the past.
Greatsheyi, who spoke in Akure, said the Mimiko administration has made the business environment conducive for the survival and growth of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).
He pledged the support of NASSI to the government to achieve its aim of making the state an industrial hub.
According to him, if SMEs are properly supported they hold a bright future for national economic development. But he stressed that enough has not been done to support female entrepreneurs.
Greatsheyi urged Mimiko to do more to empower SMEs in order to make entrepreneurship more effective.
Said he: “I want to say that development and empowerment of youths through small scale industries are vital stages in the building of human capital, which allow young people to escape poverty and joblessness.
“Adequate credit needs to be made available at a very low rate for small scale industries.”
Greatsheyi insisted that youth development and empowerment is the solution to the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria, particularly Ondo State, since “empowering youths is a veritable means of poverty reduction and economic growth.”