History was made in the ancient city of Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday May 25, when Iyalode Alaba Oluwaseun Lawson was installed the 19th and first female president of Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) during the 57th AGM/ Conference of the association.
For Iyalode, who was introduced to the association by her late brother in-law and a former past president in the person of late Chief Adeyemi Lawson, in 1982, the road to the exalted position was not an easy one. She was therefore full of gratitude to God and the people who made it possible for her to add another feather to her cap.
While speaking during a courtesy call of NACCIMA members to the palace of Osile Oke-Ona Egba, His Royal Majesty, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, she said: “Apart from late Chief Adeyemi Lawson who introduced me to Chambers of Commerce, there are two people who are the pillars behind me. They tutored me and the tutelage is responsible for the great history we are witnessing today. There is one, who, when they wanted to remove my name and pull it down the ladder, would say no. He is no other person than our patron, Alhaji Engineer Rufai Mohammed.
“The second person is Alhaji Umaru Sheu Ndanusa. He used to tell me that I should not worry and just pray for long life, that I will get there one day. I thank you sirs for your support and encouragement.
“I also thank God for today. When Jehovah says yes, nobody can say no. The road was not easy but you prayed for me and you will continue to pray for me. NACCIMA shall continue to grow, during my tenure, it is team work. We will all work together to make the association great,” Iyalode Lawson said.
For the first female president of NACCIMA, her focus, she said would be on starting a Youth arm of the association and empowering the informal sector of the Nigerian economy with a special focus on SMES.
According to her, “SMES are the bedrock of any good economy that will help the GDP to grow. Already, the Federal Government has made it possible and easier to get funds for SMES and those who want to go into agriculture.
“Once you can feed your nation, definitely, you are a wise nation. Then, we can stop wasting our forex on importation of food. If agriculture is our main interest, we will grow what we will eat and we will export just like what happened during the time of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, when government used the money made from cocoa to build Cocoa House, Liberty Stadium and so on.
My launching NACCIMA Youth Group is to make sure they all go into agriculture. And with mechanised farming, they can form themselves into groups and succeed. Once we focus on our youths, agriculture and SMES and with the funding coming in from the Federal Government, we will be able to succeed.”
Also speaking, the immediate past president of NACCIMA, Dr Bassey Edem , welcoming participants to NACCIMA conference with the theme: Enhancing Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria-An Impetus To Economic Recovery And Sustainable Growth, the past national president of NACCIMA, said that the topic under discussion was most relevant at this period of the nation’s development, considering the present cost of doing business in Nigeria and the effort of the government in producing a conducive environment.
“We are aware of the improvement on the World Bank ease of doing business global rating which saw Nigeria going up five places in the last one year and the effort of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) led by the Acting President Yemi Osibanjo to further ensure that our ranking in the ease of doing business in Nigeria significantly improve.
“However, there is need to consolidate on the achievements recorded within the sixty days action plan target set by the council so that our economy can be more attractive to foreign investors and also for us to be able t o catch up with other developing countries that have shown significant process on the ease of doing business.”
In his address, the guest speaker, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Representative to ECOWAS and Regional Director, Nigeria Regional Office Hub, Mr Jean Bakole, disclosed that Nigeria ranks 169th out of the 190 countries surveyed in the Doing Business 2017 report, doing better than just 21 countries in the world.
“Further, Nigeria ranks 37th out of 52 countries surveyed in the African region. Hence, the country is not particularly friendly when it comes to ease of doing business and taking business decisions by investors.”
However, he pointed out two areas where Nigeria made some positive achievements, such as in starting a business made easier by improving online government portals and strengthening access to credit by creating a centralised collateral registry.
While commending efforts made by the government so far, Bakole stated that: “In addition to the enhancing the ease of business in Nigeria, efforts should be made to harness the country’s human, natural, material and other resources for national development.
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