President Bola Tinubu on Thursday inaugurated the Renewed Hope Enterprise Bridge Initiative that will connect policymakers and entrepreneurs, ensuring that business realities shape effective government policies.
Inaugurating the initiative and its website at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, the President decried the disconnect between those who make policy and those who navigate it daily.
The President, represented by his Chief of Staff, Chief Femi Gbajabiamila, noted that the initiative was designed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and the government.
The Nigerian leader pointed out that his administration understood the weight entrepreneurs carried.
“One side works with framework and projections, the other works with immediacy and risk. Bringing both into the same room is not only, symbolic, it is necessary.
“If policy is to be useful, it must be informed by lived experience. If enterprise is to thrive, it must be supported by a system that understands it,” he said.
The President noted that no government can design effective response from a distance if it is determined to get it right.
“We must listen carefully, interrogate honestly and respond deliberately.
“You cannot treat what you have not properly diagnosed and you cannot diagnose without listening.
“Across this country, business operate under conditions that would test even the most established system, elsewhere,” he said.
The President commended Nigerian entrepreneurs for their role in keeping the nation’s economy moving, often under difficult circumstances.
He assured that his administration would not be indifferent to their realities.
The Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, highlighted the potential in the creative industry.
Musawa noted that the industry was capable of attracting foreign investment into the country and boost entrepreneurship development.
She said the Renewed Hope administration of President Tinubu has been working assiduously to improve the nation’s infra-investment and policy framework.
This, according to her, is with a view to improving the confidence of international investors.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Entrepreneurship Development, Chalya Shagaya, said President Tinubu’s belief in the role of entrepreneurs in driving national growth is both clear and consistent.
Shagaya added that the President was committed to building an economy that works for all Nigerians, particularly those who create jobs and drive innovation.
She acknowledged the continued support of President Tinubu to entrepreneurship development.
Shagaya also recognised the steady commitment of Vice-President Kashim Shettima to enterprise development in Nigeria.
She expressed appreciation to Gbajabiamila and the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Sen. Hassan Hadejia, for their belief in the initiative.
