By Bianca Iboma-Emefu

The former president of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, now Nigeria Exchange Group (NXG), Mr. Goodie Ibru, has urged the Federal Government to build refineries, if it wants to end poverty in the country.

He also advised government to invest in entrepreneurship education in the interest of youths, thus developing entrepreneurship vocation in varsities.

Ibru made this appeal at the 2022 Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo Distinguished Personality Lecture Series, titled “Imperatives of a 21st Century Nigerian Economy: An Entrepreneur’s Perspective”.

He added that Nigeria would have been ranked the 28th developed country in the world if leaders had diversified the economy, and observed the problem was that the economy was affected by monoculture, poor infrastructure and import dependence.

Said he: “The greatest problem of Africa today is underdevelopment and poverty. Currently, 88.43 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty.

The Federal Government must create the enabling environment for businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive. That is the key strategy we must use to fight poverty, create wealth and grow the economy. The most potent tool to fight poverty is entrepreneurship.’’

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Ibru encouraged Nigerians in Diaspora to invest their money at home to developed the agricultural sector, so that the country can produce and export food to them abroad, adding “my grandparents were merchants and entrepreneurs

“If Nigerians in Diaspora will send their money home and the tertiary institutions engage in entrepreneurship education, the youths will begin to learn the enterprise of their careers.”

Ibru urged LASU to run entrepreneurship education as a course at B.Sc and MSc levels and even as PhD programme. He advised the university to set up an innovation hub and enterprise development centre that would be a reference point for other universities in Nigeria and across Africa.

In her remarks, vice-chancellor of LASU, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, said previous lectures brought leaders in different fields to engage the university on current issues in order to provide solutions.

She said, “Entrepreneurship is building something out of nothing. We need to involve and engage the youths in entrepreneurial education and development. 

The VC commended Ibru for the lecture and described him as someone with wealth of knowledge in the business environment, stating: “Ibru has made remarkable impacts on Nigerian commercial landscape that has created value beyond finance.”

The Special Adviser on Education to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, said the state government has continued to engage in reforms in education and is also open to entrepreneurship education as a panacea to the development of the country.