Vice-Chairman, Competitiveness Council of Nigeria, Tony Elumelu, said Nigeria’s laws are not perfect, saying there is need to review, amend and enhance them so as to improve both the lives of the people and the economy.
Elumelu, Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), spoke yesterday at the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable in Abuja. He said the proper role of government, is not to provide employment for everyone, but to create, sustain and secure an enabling environment for citizens to independently create their own jobs and their success, using their own talents.
He said the private sector is the engine for economic growth in Nigeria, and indeed anywhere else.
“On behalf of my colleagues in the private sector- the established big corporates, the small enterprises and the budding entrepreneurs, I thank Senate-President, Bukola Saraki and the National Assembly for taking a thorough, systematic and transparent approach to this review, and for understanding that for the best results, the public, particularly the private sector must participate in the process of identifying and debating laws meant to increase their numbers, productivity and success,” he said.
He praised the National Economic Summit Group, which has been pushing for several years for a comprehensive revamping of our laws relating to the private sector.
He praised John Smith International, the Department For International Development (DFID) and other partners for the excellent work they’ve done with the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) survey and “to report that it is the basis of today’s discussions, adding that The Tony Elumelu Foundation has also made a submission based on our survey of applicants to the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme.
“I am a proponent of Africapitalism, which advocates for the private sector to acknowledge and embrace its critical role in Africa’s development. Through the $100 million Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program, over the next 10 years, we will seek to identify nurture and seed 10,000 African businesses based purely on the merit of their ideas and tomorrow.
