 to work or not to work. Today I'm going to take a look at employment versus entrepreneurship. And the question I'm asking today is which of the two can we call a more sustainable tool for economic development? I'm taking a total deviation from all we're talking about, but it's interesting that we're still talking finances, but we're now looking at the bigger picture. So what do you do for a living? And like a chorus you hear, I'm an entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur, seems to be the buzz phrase on everyone's lips. Well, it is no surprise as the rate at which people are starting their own businesses and opening retail outlets has astronomically increased in the recent past. May I at this juncture put a disclaimer? I am no economist. I'm not an accountant like a gemai. I don't have a financial interest in a book like Citi and I'm not doing agreements and co. I'm just a lawyer who has delved into development and I have a fascination for building human lives. Now let's take a look at the definition of employment. Employment is defined as a state of having paid work while entrepreneurship is referred to as a creation or extraction of value. In recent times, especially in Nigeria, they have been various discussions around entrepreneurship as a tool for growth and sustainable economic development. And it's interesting that the last time we're here together, it might actually made a very strong case for entrepreneurship as a tool for development. And so it's interesting that we're here again talking about this today. Now let's actually take a look at this debate on whether entrepreneurship or employment is the answer. A 2019 World Bank report states that Nigeria could enable millions of citizens to escape poverty over the next decade through enacting bold reforms designed to boost economic productivity. Without robust productivity growth, the report wants that living standards will continue to deteriorate and the number of people living in poverty will continue to rise, increasing by more than 30 million by 2030. And unless the pace of growth and job creation accelerates, the forecast is gloom. As Nigeria's population is expected to grow by as much as 35 million in the next decade, meaning that Nigeria as a country will account for a quarter of all people living in extreme poverty worldwide. A salient point, however, is that economists are saying that creating new opportunities for this rapidly increasing labor force will require a new economic model based on productivity growth. In that same report, the report then went ahead to outline four priority areas that could help lay the foundation for Nigeria's transition to a new economic model that makes more effective use of its young population and abundant resources as a way to support sustainable growth and poverty reduction. So it is interesting that Ejimei has written financial literacy books for children and that it here has decided to help all of us come out of poverty by having a book of financial literacy. It could never have come at a more apt time. So the first thing that the report mentioned was to ensure policy transparency and predictability. And this is critical in reducing investment risk for people that are taking investment and promoting growth. Secondly, would be to enhance factor quality in various areas, such as investment infrastructure, which we know is direly needed in Nigeria today, improving educational outcomes, liberalizing the trade regime, and other factors that would help develop value chains that facilitate the efficient reallocation of factors of production, thereby making Nigeria a more cost competitive economy. But then I don't know with the kind of news that we're hearing today now where BDCs are being regulated, I don't know if that advice may not need to come in again. However, thirdly, they need to regulate to reduce regulated discretion in order to help attract foreign and domestic investment and encourage competition. And fourthly, the report says that there's a need to improve access to finance. But in all that has been said in the report, in all that I have gone on about, for Emeka, for Shade, for Aki, Haruno, and even for Ida with her post-noctal agreement, the reality is that we probably all need a blend of the daring risk-taking entrepreneurs and an integral part of the factors of production, which is labor or employment, as the activity itself is actually called. Because labor is indeed the factor that starts production. And although it is alluded to that no country can grow without having citizens that are daring, if we all become entrepreneurs, then who carries out the work that the entrepreneur is creating? Yes, I know. I simplify the matter. But alas, I am only making a case for a blended view to sustainable economic development. And more importantly, for the personal economic plan that we all as Nigerians have to deal with. So once again, my question would be to work or not to work for yourself or for somebody. And I say we all work whether as entrepreneurs or as employees. Well, unfortunately, you know, applying, you have the possibility or the probability of having less employees. You know, I've said this thing before and I will say it again. Why do you have room for less employees? It's obvious. We don't produce anything. I was in trade fair on Monday. I decided to break the jinx and go look around and see what all the boss is. And as I was driving into this massive, one of the biggest markets in West Africa, worldly out and all that. But the striking thing is that they are all selling and not producing. What we need to do to create the employee, like Anita mentioned, is to have the back chain of the end product. To have people producing what we are selling. It's not enough to just put the trailers on the high sea and land them and crowd a papa. Yeah. I was wondering how come Lagos is so crowded and why there is always traffic. And you go to countries like America, you go to United Kingdom and you go to Dubai and they are not as crowded as it is. What is going on? Very simple. New York is crowded. Of course, London's on one to four is crowded. But what the government have done is that they've decentralized the economy. You don't have to come to Lagos for you to make a living. But here, we all have to come to Lagos to buy ourselves. You don't even all have to come to Lagos to buy and sell. Before COVID-19, we all had to come to VI to work. To work. It didn't make any sense. Everybody. Everybody that's going to work in the morning is driving from this point and this point to VI. Every bank head office has to be in VI. Every company's head office has. Even the law, it's left in the mainland to go to the VI. No, I agree with you. It is crowded. But you see the question and what I'm seeing and I think is this. One of the things that pushed this for me was everywhere, every meme, every angle you turn, there's that if you're not your own boss, you're going to work for somebody for the rest of your life. Or boss lady, boss boss. It's just society just being silly. I see young people don't want to work. Three cultures of the people who say, oh I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to be an intellectuals lazy. They can't. They're not even employable. Come into my world and see what I see. When Rory said that lesion Idrians were all quick to crucify him. Oh, in this my business, like I said me now, I fall into below both employee and entrepreneur. This is my entrepreneurship journey. The greatest problem I have are dedicated staff. We need to get to the job before the job starts. God forbid they resume at eight. They will literally fall down and die. And that's why I had to ask the question and really look at it and say to ourselves that before the next generation and sadly you know really really before they get so lost and so carried away not realizing that even the process of entrepreneurship itself is not I just jump into it. The skills that you require, the abilities you need. To say this all the time I say if you haven't worked in corporate Nigeria and then you just want to jump into entrepreneurship you're going to fail at whatever you want. Because you won't even know how to do a report. You won't know how to get accountable to anybody. You think that oh I just wake up and resume at eight. They never know how to sell the product to people. Somebody says I'm selling something and I'm like okay you know what tell me about it and I hear I have it. I'm thinking isn't it difficult for you to actually analyze and itemize what this thing does and sell me on it. I'm not saying marketable. Come across like you actually understand what your business is about. It's zilch. So that was really what pushed this this question today for me. We were actually at an event yesterday. We were selling the books and I was at the event. My staff was there and they were distributing snacks and party packs and everything. So I saw his party pack there and of course there was a donut in his hand and he was chewing the donuts and there was our market that I was supposed to sell. I just said guy put down your donuts. I said I don't understand. So I don't know. I don't know. Maybe Titi has a different opinion. I don't know. I don't have a different opinion. However, just back to what Titi said where she said if you've not worked in corporate world and you decide to start off your own thing except you obviously get like the required skills. You do trip inings and things like that. You definitely would have a lot of glitches along the way. I've seen a lot of businesses that even though they know what it is they are doing but the processes are just wrong and that's obviously at the end of the day affects the turn out of the business. So obviously it is very important to have gone through the corporate world and understand how things are done day to day. What is required, the skills that are required to manage the business before you then decide to become an entrepreneur? Well, I think in all in all really when Titi Bilala was talking that was the part she mentioned about discipline. I think that's the one thing that maybe might be saving grace. But before we go on the issues of food insecurity discussed last week Kaewan Webster says the government needs to help their people. We have now come to the end of this week's episode of The Advocates very sadly. However, The Advocacy continues on our social media platforms on Facebook plus TV Africa hashtag the advocate NG or on Instagram at plus TV Africa hashtag the advocate NG. To catch up with previous broadcasts go to plus TV Africa dot com forward slash advocate NG and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel plus TV Africa till next week. It's same time on this station. Let's keep advocating for a better society. Bye. Bye.