The Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, says Nigeria should not be having problem with job creation because of the abundance of mineral resources and fertile land in the country.
Olaoluwa, who was represented by the Executive Director, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises of the BoI, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, spoke on Thursday in Ede at the Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund Capacity Building Programme organised by the bank in conjunction with the National Youth Service Corps.
He said, “With the abundant solid mineral deposits, petroleum, arable land suitable for farming and good population, Nigeria should naturally not have challenges providing jobs for her school leavers, bearing in mind the fact that Zambia depends on copper only.”
Olagunju explained that 1,000 participants at the programme were selected from over 3, 000 who took part in an online business competition across the country.
He said 144 corps members drawn from Osun, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states were participating in the three days programme. He stated that after the programme, the participants would be asked to “submit bankable business plans that will enable them access up to N2m loan repayable between three and five years.
According to him, the interest rate on the loan is nine per cent.
He assured that the bank had put in place effective monitoring mechanism to ensure the success of the programme.
The NYSC Director General, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, who was represented by the Osun State Coordinator of NYSC, Mrs. Regina Iluebbey, praised the bank for its efforts towards job creation.
END
Be the first to comment