The Vice President of the Law Students Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN), Florence Agogo, has urged the government to make entrepreneurship opportunities available for youths in the country.
She said beyond creating a favourable economic climate in the country, it would also go a long way in checking most of the vices in the society.
Agogo, who also ventures into entrepreneurship and philatorphy, is an enthusiast for human capital development.
She urged youths to take charge of their lives and be bold.
She said, “In life everything begins from taking a decision. If you take a decision in life that this is what you want, nothing can stop you. Be bold, be intentional. I would advise everyone and anyone who is aspiring to be in this position sometime later in life to be bold. Not everyone would accept or support that, but you should do what you want to do at a time. If you believe in yourself and believe in God and believe that not even the sky is your limit but your starting point, then you can achieve anything. So I would encourage anyone that wants to do anything to go ahead. Do be shy or scared but go ahead.”
Agogo, who has has facilitated numerous community services and programmes aimed at improving the lives of the less privileged in the society, said she derives joy from helping others.
“I derive my joy and happiness from helping others, seeing that people are facing a lot of problems and pressure. There are a lot of students who cannot pay school fees because their parents are challenged. There are a lot of people who cannot even feed themselves. By the privilege of God I think I have a little advantage so I tend to see how I can use my advantage and resources to see how I help other people,” she said.
She was also engaged in different community and medical outreach programmes especially during the COVID 19 pandemic.
“The 2020 pandemic was what birthed my outreach and ever since then it has continued. I believe that growing in the future I would engage more people to join because I feel that I cannot really do this alone. If I had more hands it would have been a broader network to reach out to,” Agogo said.
Beyond her leadership strides and humanitarian gestures, Florence Agogo, is a seasoned business woman and an employer of labour.
Agogo, who is Chief Executive Officer of FelicidadeMart Nigeria Ltd located in Cross River, urged youths to be hardworking and avoid shortcuts.
“Life is not easy but I believe that if you are able to draw closer to God and to people who have made a mark already, to be mentored by people who are already up there, I think it would shape your life and reasoning. Instead of engaging in prostitution or trying to make it quickly or trying to be the big girl or the big boy, it is better to get a business and seek advice from people who are already doing well.
She said, “There is always something you can do, rather than embarrass yourself or cut short yourself, defile your emotions and scatter your own life by yourself. Depression and other things can come up later because you are engaged in things you are not even happy about. I feel there is always a way out. Start a business and seek help where necessary.”
For her, entrepreneurship is the solution to most of Nigeria’s economic problems and providing an enabling environment for small and medium scale businesses to thrive is key.
“The essence of any government is for the people and youths inclusiveness is something that we have not really been able to enact properly. I would say the government needs to enlarge their network of representatives in each of the states and local governments because it seems that even though they are trying, it ends at a certain level because most of these people they send as representatives, we do not get to see them.
“So I would appeal to the conscience of our President, Vice President and all those who are heads of offices to try and go deeper, to try and send people who would go down to the grassroot level, to the universities – the university community is where you find the youths. Go to secondary schools, try and engage them and know where they are hurting.
“Government should try and get the youths engaged. They would not have time for prostitution or other vices. It is because they are idle most of the time. The government should expand its network to reach the real people who are in need of help. They should also checkmate the people they send to us as youths and ensure what they are sending to us is actually getting to us,” she said