By Scoop Reporter
THE Corona Virus Disease (COVID -19) outbreak calls for Zambia to focus on trading with its people before trading with the outside world and fit in the global market, the Congress of Zambian Student Entrepreneurs (COZSE) has said.
Speaking to The Scoop this morning, (COZSE) chairperson Lawrence Mwenya Nkumbula said the country should produce enough to meet the local demand before looking outside Zambia into the global market.
He says the food security is threatened and shall remain so for so many years to come because Zambia is largely a consuming nation.
He says that now that boarders for other countries are closed and without any certainty when they will reopen, Zambia is yet to experience the shortage of essential commodities.
“As COZSE we implore the government to lit the entrepreneurial spark in the citizens and make them participate in the industrialisation of this country. 55 years after independence Zambia should take stock of men and women she has produced in all disciplines, be it in medicine, agriculture, mining, business and education faculties
“We should introspect why these men and women have failed to be serious players in the country’s economy and yet we continue to be producing more graduates in these disciplines. Indeed something should be checked. Something is missing somewhere and should be attended to with urgency,” Mr. Nkumbula said.
He says COVID-19 has just proved that Zambia cannot depend on India and South Africa for medical survival.
“We can’t depend on Zimbabwe and South Africa for groceries and fruits, COVID-19 tells us that we can’t depend solely on Glencore and other foreign companies to run our mines, we need indigenous companies owned by Zambians to compliment and stabilize foreign exchange inflow.
“The solution to the problems Zambia faces lie in the hands of Zambians and can only be sorted out by Zambians. We have educated our people but let’s train them to run different sectors of our economy for Zambia to survive economically,” he said.
