The Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has called on the Federal government to soften the process of accessing loans by young entrepreneurs in the country.
The job placement coordinator at CITAD, Sagir Ado made the call on Wednesday, during an entrepreneurship career talk with students of Aliyu Mai Sango Junior Upper Basic Secondary School, Jama’are in Bauchi state.
He stressed the need for government to simplify requirements for accessing loan from lending financial institutions to young entrepreneurs.
Abubakar lamented that entrepreneurship is facing challenges because young entrepreneurs were not finding it easy to strive.
“There are problems of sources of capital and even the lending institutions we have, make requirements difficult for a common entrepreneur.
“The high cost of doing business in Nigeria, make entrepreneurs take risks because they want to make profit.
“Where the expected returns from a venture is lower than the opportunity costs, it will act as a disincentive for the entrepreneur,” he said
Abubakar added that Lack of strong patent law is a serious challenge for young entrepreneurs, adding that the local entrepreneurs are not well protected by the Nigerian law.
According to him, another challenge was lack of knowledge in the basic sciences and technology.
He emphasized the need to encourage entrepreneurs to apply science and technology in their entrepreneurial activities.
“Government should make provision of laws that will protect our local entrepreneurs and also give them the necessary support.
“Government should also put measures that can help to reduce the cost of doing business by ensuring steady supply of electricity, providing infrastructure such as roads, water, etc,” he said.
Abubakar however urged the students to embrace entrepreneurship to become employers of labour not job seekers.
Our correspondent reports that entrepreneurship career talk was organized by CITAD to mark this year’s global entrepreneurship week with the theme: ‘Open young Students’ Eyes to the Opportunities Offered by the Entrepreneurial Path’.
Responding on behalf of the students, Mr Imran Salihu and Miss Abdullahi said the training session would equip the students with the skills and knowledge to be self-employed.
They said it would provide skills for starting and managing their own businesses as well as become employers of labour.
They also noted that the initiative would help in assailing the rising unemployment concerns among youths.
