NIGERIAN PRESIDENT has challenged Africans, including its political and business leaders, to look inwards instead of undue reliance on international donor funds. He made the call yesterday at the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Generation Unlimited (GENU) Breakfast Roundtable meeting, a side event at the ongoing 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
The event also served as launch of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Impact Report titled ‘The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme: A Decade of Impact.’
The president, who was represented by the Minister for Trade and Industry, Doris Uzoka-Anite, decried the over reliance by Africans on foreign donors, calling for an end to that mindset. She also stressed on the need for local solutions to economic growth and unemployment, while offering incentives to willing investors.
She said: “I don’t think we are doing enough as Africans for Africa. We need to do a lot more. Elumelu has been the major person driving investments in supporting the youths and start-ups.
“We need to take up the challenge upon ourselves as Africans to support one another. It is about time we stopped looking for international organisations for donor funding. We need to go out of that mentality.”
On the importance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the president said they were the engines of Nigerian and African economic growth, adding that they contributed almost half of national GDP, and more than 80 per cent of employment.
President Tinubu and Tony Elumelu
In his speech, Elumelu said the event highlights the significant contribution of TEF’s flagship $100 million Entrepreneurship Programme in advancing Africa’s socio-economic development. He noted that 13 years ago, the foundation took a bold step to rewrite and change Africa by enhancing entrepreneurship development to galvanise African solutions