Business
LCCI urges economic diversification beyond oil
In from Ali Smart …
Worried by the reduction in the nation’s oil receipts as a result of dwindling oil prices in the global market, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has reiterated the need for diversification of the nation’s economy beyond oil.
Addressing newsmen on Monday ahead of the 2015 Lagos International Trade Fair, the Vice President and Chairman, Trade Promotion Board, LCCI, Dr. Michael Olawale Cole said that the forthcoming exhibition, tagged: ‘Enhancing Value Addition in the Non Oil Economy,’ would draw attention to the imperative of non-oil exports, as well as give priority to the opportunities that abound in the value addition business to enhance learning and profitability.
According to him, the need to support the development of the non-oil sector in Nigeria especially now that the economy urgently needs to diversify the country cannot be over emphasised.
“Nigeria needs developmental initiatives such as investment conference and entrepreneurship development programmes with special focus on the non-oil sector as a means of getting the country out of the present precarious situation.”
According to Cole, another major innovation in the 2015 Lagos International Trade Fair is the inclusion of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fora, aimed at supporting and developing entrepreneurship as well as the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, which is the engine of growth in any economy.
Read also: Nigeria’s economy bleeding seriously, says LCCI
“One sure way of investing in the future of our economy is to increase the capacity of these entrepreneurs to create and manage businesses as this is what is done in all successful economies around the world,” he said.
The LCCI boss noted that the introduction of the new venues would accommodate corporate exhibition, business-to-business meetings and the rapidly growing Nigeria’s creative industry.
The trade fair is scheduled to hold at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos with two additional venues at Muson Centre Onikan and Freedom Park, Lagos from November 6 to 15, 2015.
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