2,000 youths benefit from FG empowerment programme

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, says the Federal Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) has provided technical assistance to 2,000 youths in the country.
Enelamah, who announced this at a news conference in Abuja yesteday, said that the gesture was part of the broader social intervention programme of government.
He said more than 350,000 micro enterprises had also benefited from GEEP and MarketMoni scheme.
According to him, the Federal Government Social Intervention Programme (SIP) will also provide interest-free loans to Micro Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSME).
He said very important agreement was signed with Volkswagen during the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Nigeria to make the country an automotive hub.
“They believe we can sell up to two million cars a year, if we create an environment for Nigerians to drive new cars.
They want to work with us to make it happen,’’ Mr Enelamah said.
The minister said on trade, the country had signed agreement with European Free Trade Area (EFTA) comprising Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Enelamah added that the objective was to promote trade with those countries.
He said an economic cooperation agreement was signed between Nigeria and the UK during the visit of Prime Minister Theresa May to create environment for future negotiations.
“Technically, the UK cannot have a full negotiation with Nigeria until Brexit negotiations are concluded,’’ he said.
(NAN)