HARD WORK, COMMITMENT AND DEDICATION PAYS........HON. ABDULRASHID M. UJACHE

HON. ABDULRASHID M. UJACHE

Entrepreneurial skills and leadership in today’s Nigeria seems to have been taken over by youths especially in the business environment through their involvement in the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as they have created a high level of awareness through their vibrant and robust entrepreneurial skills.

In recognition of their efforts, some highly enterprising and focused entrepreneurs received awards for their resourcefulness and creativity.
NAIJNEWSALERT recently, encountered Honourable Abdulrashid Musa Ujache, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MEDIRASH SOLUTIONS, Abuja
who also was a recipient of the awards bestowed upon enterprising entrepreneurs who have imparted positively on the lives of youths in their immediate environment and constituency.

A focused and bubbling personality, Honourable Musa Ujache has carved a niche for himself as a successful entrepreneur with several enterprising business concerns in his name where some other youths of his age would be more concerned and involved with mundane matters.

Speaking with NAIJNEWSALERT in his office ALL PURPOSE PLAZA located in the Gwarimpa’s New Model city, Ujache says all his achievements are simply the result of hard work, commitment and belief in God Almighty.

Honourable Musa Ujache, an M.Sc graduate in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Abuja, is the CEO/MD of MediRash Solutions, an enterprise that spans different business concerns in the nation’s capital, Abuja and beyond.

UJACHE DISPLAYING HIS AWARD

 Born into the family of late Alhaji Musa Umar and Hajia Fathima in the town of Ejule in Ofu LGA of from Kogi state, Honourable Abdulrashid Ujache revealed that in 2008, he worked with H-Medix Pharmacy and Supermarket as Sales Manager where he got his mentoring before moving on to establish MEDIRASH SOLUTIONS.

“You cannot be like somebody when you are still working for that person” Abdulrashid Ujache says. “I began my own business which was more into Consultancy outfit but with greater focus on expansion and training of youths and this has been able to provide a business platform and base for more than 400 youths to become self reliant in various skills acquisition and becoming proud owners of supermarkets and pharmacies here in Abuja. It is more of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMSE’s”.

“Our job is to assist interested youths to set up the business and after we observe that you are set to run it independently, we hands off and monitor from the sides to see that all is doing well. We are also into supplies of pharmaceutical products which we source from overseas for our ever expanding range of supermarkets and pharmacies”.

However, the economic global recession today, according to the entrepreneur, has not been very favourable but certainly; we will definitely come out of it soon. It has not been easy as it has affected the prices of goods and services, thereby taking its toll on the masses. There is a strong need for youths to look at how they can get involved in the agricultural sector as it is a very viable sector that requires little capital to take off and for those willing to participate, we have provided them with financial support as a form of take off grants to enable them stand. Fish farming is one aspect that requires little amount to start off but with the current hike in the prices of most items, the cost of feeds have soared and this has become a form of challenge to some fish farmers, today. But, we will soon overcome it all, Abdulrashid says, exuding confidence.

It is sad that, most of our youths are very lazy. I am sorry to use that word. For the fact that some of them have obtained their B.Sc degrees they feel it would be better for them to secure employment with the Federal Government instead of becoming self employed and have, instead, developed this mindset of securing a government paid job.

But, for those who want to start off in the agricultural sector, they have some challenges on how to begin and this is where we come in and give them something; it could be in the form of financial and it could also be technical know-how.

The present economic recession has affected everybody in Nigeria. In my home state; Kogi state where we have the very “vibrant and youthful governor” represents the youths and is doing wonderfully well. We all know that there are challenges but the ability to perform is what makes him different. I call him the “Digital Governor”.

His Excellency Alhaji Yahaya Bello, just like I said earlier is a “Digital Governor and an “Ambassador of the youths”.

The way of God is different as we are all witnesses as to how he came into power. This is somebody who came into power without knowing somebody as a “godfather” and that has truly given him the ample opportunity to perform.

But, in a state where you have the elites and he prefers to go with the youths in order to encourage them politically, he is not getting the right support from these elites. They believe that it is a “big elephant which must be brought to the table and shared” and this is making it difficult for him to succeed in some areas.

Whatever you want to do to make the state progress, they will be out there to counter you.

In my own opinion, the governor is trying especially in the areas of roads infrastructure and the provision of pipe borne water to the people, Honourable Abdulrashid stated.

Tasked on the likely areas that the Governor might be having challenges, the award winning entrepreneur revealed that, “one aspect where the governor is still struggling to make a head way, is that of civil servants in the state”. He is trying to ensure that the necessary structures are put in place and clean up the mess. It is a difficult task. No human is perfect and therefore, cannot get it perfectly but the good thing is that, he is working on all of this to see that things go well”, he said.

He is still battling with it and it is also affecting his performance in the state. But generally, he is doing quite well, Ujache stressed.

On his political intentions in his state, Honourable Ujache has this to say; “what is happening in my state, politically, calls for an intervention to come and rescue my people from what they are facing right now. Tomorrow which is the future is pregnant.  So, I cannot say anything about it for now but I have the interest of my people at heart, he stated.

According to Abdulrashid Ujache, during the last elections of 2015, “I contested for the House of Representatives in my constituency in Ofu Local Government and because of godfatherism; I was unable to scale through as there was no primaries. It was hijacked completely and they made away with the ballot boxes and they anointed whoever they wanted to be there and that is why I said, with the coming of the present governor, there are going to be many changes in the political space but we must understand that, it is going to take time to do that”.

The politics in Kogi state is mostly about tribal strength and as you know, politics; democracy is all about the numbers. If the east has the majority and if you have somebody from there (east) where there is majority and that person does not have the capability to carry the people along, I think he still stands to have zero margins.

But, if he is somebody that credible and trustworthy; someone whom the people can actually believe in, like our late political icon and leader; Prince Abubakar Audu and Dr. Steven Makouju Ashema both of blessed memory, these are people we actually believe in. We believe in their philosophy, ideologies up to the time that when we were supposed to enjoy them but sadly so, God said no, that their time and services on earth was over and that they should come over and they left us.

Basically, it is all about numbers and credibility and you cannot rule it out. The Kogi East has the majority and they have the say. The present Governor is from the central, the Chief of Staff is from the East while the Deputy Governor is from the East (the Igala speaking tribe). The combination is okay but the common problem we are having is this; the elderly ones are complaining that they are not being carried along and they try as much as possible to pull the government down.

However, the issue of the civil service where we have ghost workers has been a recurrent one and he is trying to clear off the mess but the people inside the committee are not giving room for the mess to be cleaned up thereby making the people to suffer for it. It is easy to destroy but to build, takes time and that is what they are going through right now.

Tasked on the offers from the Federal Government through the Bank of Industry to assist farmers with small loans, we at MEDIRASH Solutions, are working on it to see how we can take advantage of the opportunity it offers especially where it has to do with agriculture and invest in the sector. This is very key as it the focus of the Federal Government to seek ways at diversifying our economy from Oil to Agriculture. Agriculture is a vibrant and lucrative sector as it was the backbone of our economy before the discovery of oil in Nigeria decades back.

If we all recall, this country was living and surviving on agriculture and as a nation, we were doing very well.

When we had the groundnut pyramids, the proceeds were used to develop and build refineries down south. Look at what the Lagos state government is doing. You can recall that in December, he, Governor Ambode collaborated with the Jigawa state government in the area of agriculture and to be specific, rice production. The beauty of it is that, every other state is queuing into it. It is beautiful.

Kogi state is known for its prowess in cashew farming and it has the largest cashew farm in West Africa but unfortunately, we have no industry to harness the product and utilize it as a finished product. We do not have the facilities to utilize it otherwise, there would be no need exporting it out. Even if one would think of exportation, it would be the finished product and not the raw material.

Nigeria is a blessed country and I believe in Nigeria that it would work again if we go into agriculture more.

On the very worrisome issue of insecurity in the country, we are faced with cases of kidnappings everywhere and again, the issue of herdsmen who are on rampage in virtually almost every state of the federation.

As an investor and stakeholder, most of the issues we are having today in this country are politically induced. If we have power moving to the Southern parts of the country, you will observe that the security challenge will come from the North while if you have power shift to the North, the major crisis shifts to the South and that is what we have been observing for some time now.

I strongly believe that if all the stakeholders can come together and agree to stop the insecurity in the country. I think we will only have it as mere discussions and tales. Look at the issue of Boko Haram which is dying down today. We have the Niger Delta militancy, the agitations from IPOB and MASSOB in the Eastern region. These are all purely politically instigated but if we all agree while sitting on a round table at the same time and try to address job creation, unemployment and poverty, we will see great improvements. These are the major cardinal reasons why we are experiencing these crises in this country.

If the youths are gainfully employed, I don’t think you will even have time to even visit your brother not to even talk of having time to commit crime and all of that.

Go to Kogi state today; before now, there was insecurity everywhere because of poverty, unemployment and political interest; things are looking up with the efforts of the “Digital Governor” we now have. At the same time, like I said earlier, the three major interests in the state; political interest, poverty and unemployment. Everything kind of ties up with poverty, unemployment, job creation and the likes, but, once these issues are tackled, I think it will become history.

Asked to give his views on the “minimum monthly wage of #18,000” in Nigeria, the CEO of MEDIRASH SOLUTIONS insisted that, #18,000:00 to him every month “as salary for any worker is under employment. If you pay me #18,000:00 is not even enough for transportation not to talk of feeding and other needs. That is why we have to look outside the box and think of what you can do to sustain yourself. There are many things you can do in this country without depending on government”. it is better to be self-reliant than to receive such an amount as salary,  he emphasized.

However, you need to be fully committed to whatever you are doing; the sky is your limit. It will get to a point whereby, as an entrepreneur and self employed person, you will employ others to work for you. Hard work pays.

Many people rush into Abuja with the mindset that as soon as you step into Abuja, that things will begin to roll in. That is a very wrong perception as you must have two things in mind; accommodation and work. These are two very important issues you must be able to tackle.

As we all know, accommodation in Abuja is very very expensive. There is no denying that. The figures range in the four to five digits when you are looking for a one bedroom apartment and you know it all depends on the area you have in mind. Even in the outskirts, it is still not cheap. Life is expensive. As a small scale entrepreneur coming into Abuja, you must start off from a small scale depending on your area of interest. It is not really easy which is why you see people coming and going out daily. It is serious business to remain in business here in Abuja.

In conclusion, everybody coming into Abuja especially the youths; the ladies and the guys, they should be ready to think outside the box. Skill acquisition; acquire more skills aside your educational background. You must learn to do so many things.

As I am today, I am an electrician and I am capable of installing CCTV cameras and appliances. I am also a barber. It is out of commitment to make sure that you get something to do. You must be proficient in various aspects and that will make you the man you want to be.

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