President Goodluck Jonathan has restated his government’s commitment to building an economy that will work for all Nigerians, with focus mainly on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
The President, who inaugurated the National Council on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today, was confident that the growth of MSMEs would be very important towards self-sufficiency. “MSMEs are the innovators, the wealth creators, as well as employment generators. Every MSME today has the potential of growing to the large corporation of tomorrow.”
President Jonathan said that the inauguration of the Council marks a very important turning point in the national economic development drive with regard to the efforts of the government to place micro, small and medium enterprises as core and essential elements of economic transformation.
“The creation of this Council is a testament to the commitment of this administration to all inclusive economic growth. Our commitment is to meet the aspirations of our people and in doing so, ensuring rapid economic development, benefiting all our citizens, North, South, East, or West.”
The President said that Nigeria has over the past few years, demonstrated its determination to the rest of the world that it is focussed in becoming one of the leading world’s economic engines.
“This we have done by achieving a reasonable level of macro economic stability even in the face of global recession.
“We currently rank as the top most investment destination in Africa, the largest economy on the continent and amongst the top 10 fastest growing economies in the world.
“As we build a strong economy and attract unprecedented investments, we must urgently address critical economic issues of inclusion and wealth distribution. I repeat; we must ensure that this economy works for all our people. That we indeed become a land of opportunity for all, and a land where hopes become reality regardless of who you are, where you hail from or what beliefs you hold.
“This our land must be where our youth have jobs and our people can take their economic destinies in their hands. It must be a land where poverty is eradicated, and our people can live in dignity. This is the Nigeria we all must work to make possible and the MSME Council has a great role to play to make this a reality.”
Jonathan described Nigeria as a blessed country and that its people are some of the most enterprising in the world.
He said that Nigeria, with 170 million people has come to be the 9th largest workforce in the world, and that it is also the largest diaspora networks that can be used to drive change and development.
“A 2010 survey carried out by SMEDAN and the National Bureau of Statistics, shows that there were 17.2 million MSMEs in Nigeria, employing over 32 million people. In addition, over 95% of registered businesses in Nigeria are small businesses.
“If each of these businesses employs one more person, we would create over 17 million extra jobs, which would indeed be a revolution in Nigeria’s job markets. This is the unexplored power of small businesses.
“To actualize our dream of a robust MSMEs, I launched the Nigeria Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) early this year, to provide a National template to address critical issues faced by small businesses. NEDEP will henceforth provide a framework to guide all government interventions for Nigerian small businesses, and the creation of this MSME Council is one of the principles on which NEDEP is anchored.
“The N220 billion MSME fund provided by the Central Bank which I launched a few weeks ago for small businesses, will begin to address access to finance for small businesses, and NEDEP will play a role to ensuring that MSMEs in the country are bankable and viable enough to access these funds, as well as other MSME funds available.
“An urgent priority I expect this Council to take up, is the development of a detailed Financing Value Chain Intervention strategy for MSMEs, so as to address the difficulties put in the way of small businesses in their strive to access finance.
“With NEDEP, and with the effective guidance of this MSME Council, we are making MSMEs a central part of national policy and ensuring that everyone in the 774 local governments in Nigeria is covered by this initiative.
“This coordination will extend to the State Level, for which State MSME Councils have already been instituted in 10 states, and it is my hope that MSME structures will become operational in all 36 States and the FCT before long. These councils are chaired by the State Governors and will directly report to the National Council.” [myad]
