As part of its mandate of poverty reduction and wealth creation, as well as to promote entrepreneurship in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, the Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA), in collaboration with the Department for International Development (DFID), has embarked on FCT-wide entrepreneurship campaign, to sensitise residents on the benefit of AEA and entrepreneurship.

While declaring the over two month's sensitisation campaign open in Abuja, the AEA Executive Director, Altine Jubril, said AFEC would help broaden the awareness of the agency's activities in every part of the territory and ensure the penetration of entrepreneurship in every home. He added that the agency's programmes and products would soon become more accessible to the residents.

She disclosed that AEA was implementing AFEC to impact particularly on the women, youth, school drop-outs, disengaged civil servants and farmers.

Jibril said the AEA would not dole out solutions, but would work with residents to come up with solutions especially those that have to do with entrepreneurship of the project. They would identify credible business ventures and facilitate support for them.

She stressed that the chief of Abaji had disclosed that, 'a research revealed that 90 per cent of the money Abaji people get was usually spent on taking care of themselves while 10 per cent on investment.

He wished that the AEA could turn he concept around, to spend the 90 per cent on investments and small businesses and 10 on for feeding.

The AEA boss stated that the programme would last till October and, therefore, solicited the support of all stakeholders, corporate bodies, partners in socio-economic development and the media to join in the fight against poverty by encouraging AFEC and all it entails.

She said government would provide the fund needed to achieve its dream.

"The campaign is a kind of research that will help us to plan for the future", she stressed.

A councillor in the area council and the local person for AEA in Abaji, Idris Musa Ozoko, said the challenge facing him and the AEA was how to turn all that had been said into reality.

He said the AEA would not bring something new to the people of Abaji but would help them to build on what they had. Ozoko, added that money would not be given to them but that they would be taught things that would help their business grow.

Speaking to newsmen after the programme, the co-ordinator of AFEC, Ola Omosebi, said that they would focus on taking AEA message to the grassroots, especially areas that were far from the city centre.