Godwin I Emefiele: Official launching of the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme

Opening remarks by Mr Godwin I Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, at the Official Launching of the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), Lagos, 25 November 2021.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Good afternoon, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am pleased to welcome you to the official launching of the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), an intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria aimed at addressing the dual challenge of youth unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria. The Scheme, developed in partnership with Nigerian polytechnics and universities, is designed to harness the potentials of graduate entrepreneurs by creating a paradigm shift from the pursuit of white-collar jobs to a culture of entrepreneurship for economic development and job creation.

1.  As you are all aware, at the occasion of the 51st convocation of the University of Lagos, in July 2021, I delivered the convocation lecture titled, National Development and Knowledge Economy in the Digital Age: Leapfrogging SMEs into the 21st Century. At that event, I promised that the Central Bank will seek fresh collaboration with the nation's tertiary institutions to develop entrepreneurship programmes, and to support-through the provision of access to finance-graduates and undergraduates who have bankable ideas, to bring the ideas to fruition. Engagements have been on-going between the Central Bank and the leadership of some of our tertiary institutions regarding the framework for an innovative financing model that will support entrepreneurship development among our graduates and undergraduates. This launch of the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme today, is a culmination of the engagements and fulfillment of that promise.