Emefiele Tasks Graduates On Entrepreneurial Mindset

Amid rising unemployment rate in the country, Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele has challenged graduating students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) to embrace entrepreneurial mindset.

Speaking at the 47th Convocation Lecture of UNN in Enugu State, Mr. Emefiele urged the graduating students to embrace the present challenges confronting the country by becoming self-reliant rather than mere job seekers.

The CBN governor, who spoke on “A mindset for Succeeding in Today’s Nigeria,” at the occasion decried the alarming rate of unemployment, warning that failure to address the menace may lead to further setback for the country.

Emefiele equally seized the opportunity to encourage Nigerian youth to take advantage of the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP) of the CBN.

The UNN alumnus said the YEDP was designed by the CBN to address the challenge of unemployment as well as promote entrepreneurship among the youth.

The CBN Governor urged Nigerian graduates with no more than five years post-service experience to seize the opportunity to become industrialists.

Speaking on current economic developments and policies of the Bank, the CBN Governor recalled that several global shocks that affected the Nigerian economy were amplified due to the country’s over-reliance on the oil sector for its foreign exchange revenue and for government finances.

He however disclosed that the Bank embarked on some proactive policy measures such as policy tightening, restriction of forex for imports of 41 non-essential commodities, exchange rate management and development financing in key sectors in order to keep the economy sound.

Citing indicators such as the decline in inflation, improvement in forex supply, accretion to the foreign reserves, improvement in the World Bank’s “doing business indicators,” and the significant boost in local production, Emefiele said that the Nigerian economy had turned the corner and the worst days were behind.