NECA celebrates Organised businesses at its Excellence Awards

 

For staying through hard times, yet standing tall, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA took out time to  celebrate organised businesses, investors and stakeholders.

 

Organised businesses were celebrated at the third edition of the NECA Employers Excellence 2022 Awards for their resilience and doggedness in the midst of challenges.

 

The event was held on Wednesday, November 30, 2023 at Eko Hotels, Lagos with the theme: “Against All Odds”.

 

Director-General of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde while welcoming everyone at the award night said, the award was to sit down together as an organised businesses and reflect on how the future holds, to celebrate those saying if businesses are not doing well then they must not be reasons to celebrate.

 

“We are here to celebrate the resilience of businesses because it is not easy for us to be in the trenches from January to December, advocating, engaging and writing when the need arises,” he said.

 

He re-emphasised that the awards night was to celebrate those doing business in Nigeria, their doggedness, resilience, potentials and capacity to generate employment and contributions to the economy.

 

Commending on the resilience of business owners in the country, Director General of NECA, Adewale – Smatt Oyerinde, said, organised businesses still remains strong and standing regardless of inflation rate that is almost 30 per cent, with multiplicity of taxes, threats of strike and protests.

 

Also, Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir urged NECA to try as much as possible to influence policies that will improve the economy, noting that they are partners together because MAN represent organised private sector of Nigeria.

 

“We celebrate you and we thank those who have graced this occasion because you represent what Nigeria should be, which is the, would do spirit.”

Former president of NECA, Mr. Sam Ohuabunwa, while commending businesses in Nigeria, said, investment is necessity to building the economy.

 

According to him, investment is needed to be fault and stablish businesses, programmes and projects.

 

He said: “This business and projects will create jobs to create wealth and wealth will create prosperity and the prosperity will in turn drive away poverty. So, that is a straight line that the investment we are looking for are both foreign and domestic. And I think the door standing foot is domestic because we are already members. We understand within our environment because some of us have grown immunity together.”

 

He however, encouraged investors, employers and those doing business in Nigeria to do more because the country needs a whole lots of investment. “We need more jobs to be created. We need more wealth to be created so that we can eliminate poverty or at least, improve upon it,” he said.

 

He also encouraged president Tinubu to look inwards for investors than traveling from place to place soliciting investment when they are investors in the country struggling to make the nation work. “President traveling soliciting for investment shows that he has the understanding that to build this economy we need investment but, they are investors here struggling to make the nation. They need his support,” he said.