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The Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Rivers State chapter, in keeping with the vision of helping small businesses to take their place as the bedrock of an industrialized and vibrant economy, has presented an incisive lecture, as part of its end of year activities.
Captain-Briggs Opunabo Dokubo, chairman of NASSI, Rivers State, at a dinner on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 in Port Harcourt, stated his commitment to facilitating very productive interactions between the academia and industrialists, so that the objectives of making small scale businesses viable and sustainable would be achieved in not too distant future, adding that researchers and prominent businessmen were, therefore, part of the audience invited to be part of the lecture.
Presenting a lecture titled ‘Pro-Poor Jatropha: A Catalyst For Economic Development,’ Dr. Stanley Akele, president of Food For All International (FFAI) and vice chairman Agro-Allied of NASSI Rivers, said “This plant is environment friendly and can very well serve as an alternative employment generation product, in addition to boosting power supply when used properly.”
The Jatropha nut tree is tropical and found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is rather small in size, has low yield, ranging from about 3 to 5 tonnes of seeds per hectare per year, takes 3 to 5 years to mature and can last for 50 years, one of the reasons it had been used most prominently for boundary demarcation exercises.
One of the university dons who attended the event was Prof. Winston Belgam, also shared part of his knowledge on the Jatropha nut tree and its huge potentials of employment generation and preservation of the ecosystem.
