Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island, Lagos, is gearing up to host the maiden edition of Made-In-Nigeria (MaIN) Festival.
The rising city, which recently celebrated the completion of the first 8-lane expressway in West Africa, would accommodate over 500,000 visitors during the weeklong event, which runs from September 26 to October 1, 2016.
The festival is designed to stimulate the made-in-Nigeria economy, foster innovation and offer a unique window of opportunities to foreign and domestic investors to network and build mutually beneficial relationships.
With the theme: “Innovate. Connect. Power The Future,” the Festival would be held under the chairmanship of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. It would feature a summit, exhibition and a feast of all that is great about Nigeria.
Participants are expected from the 36 states of Nigeria as well as representation from 16 countries. Guests would include: captains of industries, global corporations, trade missions, entrepreneurs, inventors, state and local governments as well as foreign visitors.
Other confirmed dignitaries include the host, Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State governor and his counterparts from Ogun and Osun states, as well as the CEOs of the top 100 companies in Nigeria.
Organisers of the inaugural edition of the MaIN Festival are also billed to make a formal presentation with proposals designed to address the issue of unemployment in Nigeria, which touched new highs of 13.3 percent in the second quarter of the year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
These proposals would be unveiled at a special session titled “Legislative Agenda for Made-In-Nigeria”, under the distinguished chairmanship of Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
Temitayo Etomi, Head, Technical Committee on Job Creation, MaIN Group, stated that the proposals, if implemented, could lead to the creation of 1.5 million jobs yearly over the next five years.
A seasoned entrepreneur and a 2014 Barack Obama Mandela Washington Fellow, Etomi, who is also the founder, Young Business Leaders of Nigeria (YBLN), teamed up with unemployed and underemployed youths across the country in the process of conducting her research work on unemployment in Nigeria.
She further stressed that the proposed Nigerian Jobs Act, is a first step to creating a lasting solution to the unemployment challenge in Nigeria. Etomi added: “What we’ve found so far from our consultations is that the contents of the proposed legislation enjoy bi-partisan support from both sides of the political divide and enjoys even greater support from the Federal Government. I think we are beginning to see a sense of purpose, direction and urgency to create new jobs for the Nigerian people, especially for the younger generations”.
Some of the proposals in the Act include: expanding access to job opportunities and training for all Nigerians between ages 19 – 26; increasing transparency and strengthening the governance of government funded programmes such as NYSC, YouWin etc; providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to companies (including small-scale companies) that employ a defined number of unemployed people over a defined time-scale; and increasing the productive capacity of young Nigerian’s during their NYSC years.
With the theme: “Innovate. Connect. Power The Future”, MaIN Festival is billed to run from September 26th – October 1st, 2016, at Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event is an international festival of ideas, innovations and opportunities that will bring the world to Nigeria to explore and engage the best it has to offer – in five key sectors. They are: Power & Infrastructure, Agriculture, Technology, Manufacturing and Sports & Entertainment.
The Made-in-Nigeria Festival is being organised by the MaIN Group, a collaboration of private sector organisations. Board of Advisors of the initiative include: Adesegun Oniru, Aliko Dangote, Stella Okoli, Ronald Chagoury, Jim Ovia, and Oluremi Tinubu.
Eko Atlantic, officially Nigeria international commerce city, is a planned city of Lagos State, Nigeria, being constructed on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean.
