Prophet Alo urges FG to increase financial support for businesses

The Nigerian government has been called upon to scale up financial and other supports for small and medium-scale business owners.

The planter of CAC Adamimogo, Grace of Mercy Prayer Mountain worldwide, Prophet Sam Olu Alo, who made the call said giving more resources to the small and medium-scale owners will enhance and boost the country’s economy.

The cleric also advised the citizenry and the government to return to agriculture, saying the no amount approved as the new minimum wage for workers would ever be enough for them.

The founder of Adamimogo FM Nigeria spoke at Jesus City, Lekki, Lagos during the programme tagged “Sure Mercy of David” where about 1500 people were trained on different skills/vocations and empowered with several millions of naira.

Some of the skills learned were security door installation with equipment, catering, snacks making, craft, cloth dyeing, adire, weaving among others.

A physically challenged was gifted a wheelchair by the man who also gave the man’s wife to start a business N500,000 and offered to sponsor the return of four persons to Europe.

Speaking further on the empowerment of small and medium-scale business owners to boost Nigeria’s economy, he said, “They can help in many ways. It is not the government that is producing the goods being imported into our country from China, the government is the one producing goods coming from India and even in Turkey. I have been to all these countries.

“These individuals are getting contracts from their very small shops and produce stuff according to the resources at their disposal. Instead of importing goods from abroad, if these small-scale business owners are encouraged, what they are producing here can be useful for our country Nigeria which will bring comfort.

“For instance, looking at the kind of clock made by our people here, one will think they were imported from overseas. If they are doing it and the politicians are buying and promoting them as a way of encouraging them, it will be acceptable to the people.

“They should be buying them and present them as gifts to the people. The youths producing them will be encouraged to do more and this will serve as good source of livelihood for them. Others that are trained will also have something to do and all of these will have great impact on our economy”.

Olu Alo who posited that such will go a long way to reduce crimes and criminality in the country said, ‘Like in Turkey, the government and big successful companies there, will gather young people, train them on different vocation and skills acquisition and whatever they produce, the government will subsidize it, buy from them and sell.

“And there are laws on what they termed ‘hand made’ that is what is made with hands, it is always more expensive than what it made through machines and other technology. They do this to get them engaged and encourage them to continue in the trade. They will also be the one giving them part of what they use to produce the goods

“Here we also trained people and gave them machines to make foreign doors which is in vogue now. We are doing this to add value to their life and to make money. If they are doing these and the government is supporting them with other tools they can use for their businesses, it will help our country and our nation will have rest .

“Like this time we are having terrorism, banditry, and other forms of criminalities in our country, it was partly as a result of unemployment and joblessness that most of our youths and people are into these criminal acts. Some have already acquired skill but don’t have the equipment and tools to work with, that is why we have thief’s, armed robbers, fraudsters and kidnappers all around us.

“Some will farm, there will be no buyers for their farm produce. In most developed countries, it is the government that buy such from the farmers and store it . It serve as encouragement for them, that is why those nation are enjoying peace and rest.

“But there is hunger in the land, as we are saying there is famine in our country some food items from the farmers are wasting away. In the farms where there is road to access them, no train to reach there. Plantains, yams and other farm produce are getting spoilt because of this.

“It means they are running their businesses at lost, when this continues, there is no way it can bring growth and development to our country. All good countries do have storage facilities for their farm produce.”

He counselled the government to partner with other countries to export farm produce and other goods made in Nigeria to encourage young producers to have good returns for what they have produced.

On the 70,000 new minimum wage not being enough for Nigerian workers and why Nigerians must return to agriculture, he said it will make them self-reliant and not just waiting for a monthly salary that can’t take them home.

“But before doing that, the government has to do some things to stimulate and encourage the people. State government should be buying what the people produce from their farms and also give financial assistance to the farmers.

“If each worker is given N200,000 as a minimum, it won’t be enough for them to eat and feed their families.

“This is because the actual area where our government needs to intervene they have not attended to it. It is not until they intervene in the area of farming and agriculture that they will get it right.

“Also, the youths should be ready to take up farming and embrace agriculture.
They should be given caterpillars, fertilizers, seedlings, farmlands and other farm implements and inputs needed by the farmers.

“We have been calling on the people and the government to provide expanse of land for us farming, nobody has come out to give such to us. We want to use it to help them and the people. Where we signified interest, they asked us to bring money, it is not for us but we want to do it for our people and our society to grow.

“So, people with such vision should be given enough land and the tools to work with. Things like this will bring rest to government and they should not give us palliative”.

The renowned man of God who lamented the hike in the pump price of petrol being sold presently at N1000 and above per little in all part of the country urged the federal government to expedite action in making all refineries in the country work.

“It is unfortunate that we are an oil producing country and our people are groaning under high price of fuel. There is urgent need for all our refineries to be fixed. That will end a situation whereby we take our crude oil to other countries to refine and brought back to the country with highest.

“I want to commend the government for the planned move to be exporting the gas, that will make more funds available to the government and give source of income to Nigerian “.

He also advised the government to dialogue with the youths and ensure that reasonable demands of those bent on staging another round of protests across the country are met in order to ensure peace in the country and avoid breakdown of law and other.

Commenting on the empowerment programme, a trainer who is also a pharmacy technician, Mrs Temitope Mary Michael said, “We thank God for the life of Prophet Sam Olu Alo, a devoted man of God and a philanthropist. He facilitated” the training of these youths on resin hat. We made use of resin chemical and hardener as well as a silicon mold to do this. The students were able to mold different items like, pen, keyholders and a fashionable wall clock”.

She encouraged jobless youths to learn trades and acquire skills apart from being educated to earn a living.

A gospel singer, Sara Praise described Olu Alo as a great, prayerful committed man of God who is passionate about ensuring that people are happy and living well, advised all Nigerians to emulate his prayer and giving life .

She said, “He is a giver, a philanthropist who has been assisting and helping people diversely. How I wish that many men of God will emulate this beautiful character, to give. So, I’m imploring every Nigerian to be prayerful, be a giver, and give to the poor and that is how they will never lack in life.

Also, Pastor Niyi Olanrewaju said he was privileged to be told that there was training going on when he came for the programme and he joined the shoemaking section to learn how to make shoe and he was successfully trained.

He described Prophet Olu Alo as a very generous person, a selfless man of God who always looked for a way of empowering people and better their lives.

“If everybody in Nigeria, especially our politicians can emulate what Prophet Olu Alo is doing, I believe in a very short while, Nigeria will become a grace place to live in. It will become the Nigeria of our dreams”.

He enjoined all the unemployed people to come for empowerment programmes at Jesus City and take advantage of such opportunities to empower themselves as I have under this Sure Mercy of David 2024.

One of the trainees, Mr Mathew Ayodele said he thanked God and Prophet Olu Alo for the empowerment and the opportunity to be trained on foreign/security door installation.

“I was giving equipment to work. I have been coming to the church programmes and when to called people out form skill acquisition, I came for door installation, because I had once learned welding before now. We were over 90. I have been traveling to various parts of Nigeria to do the work and thank God, I has been helping me to raise money to take of my family.”