Former presidential media aide Reno Omokri has advised President Bola Tinubu to study the Igbo apprenticeship model to revive Nigeria’s economy.
Omokri, an author, gave the advice in a post on his social media pages.
He noted that Igbo traders and merchants recreated wealth by taking on apprentices, almost as unpaid interns, and later set them up to start their businesses.
He also said President Tinubu could appoint one such successful businessman as a minister.
His words:
If President Tinubu wants to turn around the Nigerian economy in the shortest possible time, he ought to study the Igbo apprenticeship model.
It is the most successful informal business model in the world, as well as the most prolific venture capitalist scheme on earth, producing more US dollar millionaires per capita than both Harvard and Yale Universities.
Igbo traders and merchants recreate wealth by taking on apprentices, almost as unpaid interns, who study their masters day to day business techniques and help them run their shops, markets and businesses.
After a period of time, their masters are required to financially set them up in their own businesses and guide them until they can stand on their own two feet.
Omokri urged the president to send for the representatives of leaders of all Igbo-dominated entrepreneurial hotspots to Aso Rock for a conference on how they can help government expand their business model to reach other Nigerians.
”Let all Nigerian ethnic nationalities learn this business model from our oriental brothers. Ask them to teach your economic and finance minister how they do it. In fact, pick one of them and make him the minister.
”A trader who knows how to create wealth will make a better minister than a PhD technocrat who only knows how to speak grammar!
”Our homegrown economic success will work better for us than borrowed money and ideas that may not fit our peculiar situation,” he added.
