Developed nations achieved economic prosperity through SMEs —NDE boss

The acting Director-General, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr Kunle Obayan, has said most developed nations achieved economic prosperity through the development of small and medium scale enterprises.

Obayan disclosed this last week, at a training programme organised by the Oyo State NDE for unemployed graduates, entitled: “Start Your Own Business (SYOB).”

Inaugurating the one-week training programme, held at the Development Policy Centre, Agodi, Ibadan, the NDE acting Director-General, who was represented by Mrs Joyce Yarnap, explained that the training was borne out of the desire to expose unemployed graduates to the benefits of self-reliance through entrepreneurship.

The training, according to the director-general, also sought to guide participants in their choices of business ideas.

“I am sure you are aware that statistics of unemployment in Nigeria is high. It is also important to note that more universities are emerging, which means more graduates would be turned out to join the already saturated labour market,” he said.

In his welcome address, the state coordinator of NDE, Alhaji S. A. Awosanya, noted that “today’s graduates have a mindset of going into wage employment,” which he said was no longer available, adding that “there is the urgent need for value re-orientation from wage employment to self employment which will ultimately lead to self-reliance.”

Also speaking, the Head of Department, Small Scale Enterprise (SSE), Mrs Oluwatoyin Ayelagbe, said the department was primarily designed to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity and self-reliance in the unemployed graduates and other Nigerians with a view to assist them set up their own businesses.