Youth organisations to showcase made-in-Nigeria products in U.S.
OY-ITC is a non-profit organisation that supports the development and advancement of the Nigerian youth in international trade and commerce by providing trading and networking opportunities.
“The OY-ITC has created a platform that will showcase and share with the world the creativity and productivity of young Nigerians through trade shows in various countries as the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, South Africa, China, Malaysia and several other places.
“The Houston 2022 is a trade mission to the U.S. designed to share with the rest of the world the creativities and productivities of the Nigerian youth to secure patronage for their Made-in-Nigeria products and services.
“The programme which is facilitated by the OY-ITC will also be implemented in partnership with the BuyNaija Project of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment,” he said.
Nwaka also said the implementation committee of the Houston 2022 had also come up with modalities that would ensure the participation of business leaders, organised private sector, philanthropists and multinationals to partake in sponsorship. He explained that the overall idea was to encourage the Nigerian economic diversification activities from over-dependence on oil into manufacturing, production and exportation of non-oil products to accelerate economic growth.
This, according to him is to reduce unemployment, restiveness among the youth, the attraction of international markets and to make Nigeria the commercial hub of Africa. “This Houston Trade show intends to encourage and see lots of youths in future transformed into the next generation of Aliko Dangote, Innocent Chukwuma of Innoson Motors and Jelani Aliyu of Chevrolet, who have made the country proud.
“Interestingly, Africa, most especially Nigeria has the highest entrepreneurs’ rate in the world by 22 per cent, as stated by the African Development Bank (ADB).
“To successfully navigate the future of organisational cultures, the journey has to start as early as possible with those who exhibit entrepreneurial traits or interest in entrepreneurship.
“Houston 2022 will be a showdown between the Nigerian youth and the world.
“It will culminate in the presentation and appreciation of Made-in-Nigeria products and services that will ensure the international standards for goods and services are adopted by the entrepreneurs,” he added.
A renowned global security expert, Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar, said the Nigerian youth has what it takes to excel in all fields of endeavor if given the right environment. Abubakar said there were too many licensing agencies in Nigeria that did not encourage the export of perishable goods from Nigeria unlike other counties such as Ghana. He said the problem of Nigeria was security, which had led to a lack of belief and trust in Nigerians because of the poor security system. in his words “If you want to export from Nigeria, within six months you cannot, and some of these products are perishable materials but you can do that comfortably in Ghana under 24 hours to 48 hours and that is the bottleneck, Until we go back and build the security template, we will still be facing these challenges.“
Nollywood star and Mentor/Adviser of CYMS, Kenneth Okonkwo, challenged Nigerian youths to believe in themselves and be ambassadors of made-in-Nigeria products and services.
According to Okonkwo he and his colleagues in the entertainment industry were able to make Nigeria a superpower entertainment nation because they believed in the country. He said that there were natural secrets to success such as creativity, commitment, consistency, sacrifice, dedication, determination and discipline to make a difference.
“Look inside of you because there is something God deposited in you which the world is waiting to exploit Look into that deposit and you are the next star that is about to manifest.”
Finally That is why I am grateful to organisations like OY-ITC and CYMS when a person creates they can help to disseminate around the whole world,” he said.
