The group managing director and chief executive officer of CFL Group of Companies, Lai Omotola, said yesterday that his organisation is determined to tackle Nigerians’ current hardships through technology-driven agriculture.
Omotola, who stated this at a press conference held yesterday in Lagos to mark the organisation’s 26th anniversary, said technology-driven agriculture remained the best response to the economic hardship faced by citizens.
He said,” We have also commenced our Agric business and have registered a group known as Tech farmers to deplore technology as a tool to accelerate agriculture.
“In these 26 years, we have weathered the storm such as banking reforms, economic recession, austerity, insecurity, FX crisis, petrol scarcity and present the financial hardship we now face. 26 years is something to celebrate in the life of a business, given that the given life span of companies in Nigeria is five years.
CFL Group boss said its PPP project, brokered with Ikeja Local government 15 years ago, has now been fully resolved. The market association and the Ikeja Local government say construction is at full blast, with early delivery between December and the first quarter of 2025.
He said,” It will further interest you that we have 18 real estate projects across the state awaiting all government approvals, which we are now painstakingly passing through the process.
“We are putting funds together to launch a One-million-home development known as the Grace Project across the nation, and once the funding is in place, we shall announce the launch date.
“As the hardship persists, so does the opportunity, and we must not give in to the hardship but rise to the challenge and defeat it. This should be our attitude.”
Omotola emphasised that the present hardship cannot be resolved solely by the government but by collaboration with the private sector.
According to him, entrepreneurs, not politicians, will change the country’s fortunes, as seen in every developed country. He added that the role of government is to either kill private enterprise or promote enterprise.
“Entrepreneurs will build houses, build schools, build hospitals, build roads, build rails, provide electricity, provide energy, allow us to speak to ourselves by giving connectivity and entertainment to us. Our continuous fixation on government such that until the government does it, we cannot live is a wrong doctrine that should be dispensed with immediately. The government will continue to be a government.
“As Entrepreneurs, we should be able to adapt to ever-changing governments. If government policy kills businesses, it shouldn’t kill Entrepreneurs.’’
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