Emefiele: CBN to partner universities on entrepreneurial development

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the apex bank is working on a partnership with Nigerian universities to boost entrepreneurial development.

Last week, the CBN governor called on Nigerian tertiary institutions to ensure effective collaboration with industry players in key sectors of the economy to train relevant manpower.

Emefiele said this during his keynote address at the 35th conference of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities, held at Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil, on Monday.

He said the partnership would foster a culture of entrepreneurial development among the youths before graduation by supporting them with start-up capital for their enterprises upon graduation.

The CBN governor added that the partnership would also address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

“The proposed partnership will also provide a platform for building digital skills that are relevant to Nigeria’s broader developmental goals,” he said.

Emefiele, represented by Adebowale Idowu, deputy director, development finance department at CBN, urged Nigerian universities to focus more on entrepreneurship development to address the rising youth unemployment in the country.

He said there is an urgent need for the universities to have a paradigm shift in the academic orientation of graduating students from job seeking to job creation through entrepreneurship development.

“As you may be aware, an estimated 600,000 graduate from our tertiary institutions and enter the labour market annually, after participating in the NYSC programme, seeking the already thinned out white-collar jobs,” he said.

“A situation that has contributed significantly to the rising youth unemployment across the country.

“To address this trend, there has to be a paradigm shift in our academic orientation of our graduating students from job seeking to job creation through entrepreneurship development.

“Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) portend great opportunities for addressing these gaps and accelerating economic growth, leveraging our vibrant youth population.”

Emefiele added that the CBN is developing a tertiary institutions entrepreneurship scheme (TIES) to re-orientate, train and finance entrepreneurship ideas among our graduates.

“The scheme is designed to support the development of entrepreneurial mindsets and culture through the introduction of a platform that provides seamless access to affordable finance to graduates through innovative channels for participation,” he said.

“The proposed scheme will be targeted at graduates of tertiary institutions, including universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges.”