Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta has said that entrepreneurship development remains a critical factor for strengthening economic growth in Nigeria.
The governor stated at a One -Day Workshop organised by office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Entrepreneurship Development of Delta in Asaba.
The workshop has as its theme: “Strengthening Entrepreneurship Development in Delta State”.
In order to unlock the state and the country’s economic potentials and growth, he said women and youths must engage in entrepreneurship development.
Represented by his Chief Economic Adviser, Dr Kingsley Emu, said that the workshop was apt.
According to Okowa, entrepreneurship development is critical for strengthening economic growth in the country.
He said that his administration’s programmes were geared towards strengthening entrepreneurship development which has culminated grooming no fewer than 40,000 new youths in entrepreneurship since 2015.
He also noted that the state government has revived and restored technical and vocational education to meet the present day entrepreneurship skill.
“This programme is designed to sensitize you to develop the desire for entrepreneurial skills as the basis for economic sustainability.
“We are determined to ensure that our people go into small and medium scale enterprises, growing their businesses into becoming a major employer of labour.
“I enjoin all participants to take the opportunity of this workshop to seek clarification on all issues,” he said.
On his part, Prof. Patrick Egbule, a resource person, challenged the public servants to build an entrepreneurial skill on specific area where they should retire into.
According to him, a basic policy of government should be that every Delta Youth and retiring civil servants should be equipped with at least a skill in any of the entrepreneurial areas to serve as a springboard for venturing.
“There is need for training and retraining and capacity building for potential emerging entrepreneurs as well as new start-ups through coordinated government programmed and workshops”.
