From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
In order to cushion the effects of unemployment in Nigeria, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) yesterday said it has completed plans to train about 2,500 prospective entrepreneurs under its General Entrepreneurship Development Programme (GEDP)to the tune of N370 million.
Each of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory is to get about ten million naira to run the programme, depending on the type of training to be provided.
Director General of the Agency, Alhaji Bature Umar Masari, who made this known during the flag-off of the 2014 GEDP in Kaduna yesterday, informed newsmen that the training was to build, broad and deepen the capacity of the cooperatives, enhancing their entrepreneurial competences, while ensuring effective and functional linkages to vital supports.
According to him, participants would be trained in various areas such as personal and business visioning, customer care, sales techniques, agriculture and agro-allied business among others.
“It is to be noted that this flag-off signifies the beginning of the GEDP in all states of the federation and is expected to ensure the empowerment of about 2,500prospective entrepreneurs to the tune N370million in the 36 states and the FCT. “The idea is to see that we impact basic entrepreneurship skill into the participants so that when they go back they will equally impact similar skill into other members of their cooperatives. We are starting in Kaduna with 15 corporate bodies drawn from the three senatorial constituencies with each of them represented by three members. So we are training 45 of them. “The overriding desire is to ensure generation of more employment opportunity for Nigerians and equally help to reduce the level of poverty. When people are trained in entrepreneurship and equipped with startup capital, linkages for financial institutions in Nigeria, they employ others, “he added.
In their separate remarks, two of the participants, Mrs. Mary Adamu from Press Cooperative Society and Chairman, Cooperative Union, Igabi and Gadan-Gayan Commercial Farmers, Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan said whatever skill they acquired would be taken back to other members of their cooperative societies.
Flagging-off the 2-day training, Kaduna state Deputy Governor, Ambassador Nuhu Audu Bajoga called on participants to be attentive during the training so that they would have full confidence on how to improve their businesses with modern technology.
