By Usman Aliyu
Ilorin – The Kwara Government has pledged its continued support for locally-made products and young entrepreneurs in the state.
Mrs Florence Oyeyemi, the State Commissioner for Finance and Planning, made the pledge during an interaction with a young local entrepreneur in shoemaking, Abdulgafar Oladapo, on Friday in Ilorin.
Oyeyemi commended Oladapo, whom she described as young and enterprising, for taking the bold and decisive step to be self-reliant when he could have chosen to depend on government for sustenance.
She stressed the need for the youths to prioritise entrepreneurship development, saying that government, though being the highest employer of labour, could not provide job for the growing population.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the commissioner, who met the shoemaker at the entrance of the ministry, was excited while checking through some of his works.
Oyeyemi later invited the cobbler for the interaction on how best the state government could support his trade, in line with the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led administration’s pledge to patronise locally-made products and promote local content development.
She also encouraged other job seekers in the state to take advantage of the vocational training and development offered by government to make themselves self-reliant.
While responding, Oladapo commended the state government for its keen interest in vocational and entrepreneurship development.
He particularly applauded the commissioner for her down-to-earth attitude and urged her to expediently forward his requests to the appropriate quarters for consideration and assistance.
(NAN)
