21st July, 2017
The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) clinic is part of government’s efforts to improve the business environment and find solutions to the speedy growth of MSMEs.
Osinbajo said this in Abuja on Thursday at a two-day Nationwide MSMEs Clinic for the FCT, with theme “Nationwide MSME Clinics for Viable Enterprises’’.
He said the idea of the clinic was to increase the efficiency of MSMEs by providing solutions through time-saving approach.
Osinbajo described Nigerians, especially the youth as hardworking people endowed with great entrepreneurial skills capable of promoting the nation to an enviable height.
He said that the future of the country lays in small business that involved mostly the youth.
“It is important that we as government will do our part because we have a key role to play in the growth of MSME in Nigeria.
“The clinic is how to develop small businesses to grow quickly; we know that funding is a major constraint to MSME so the Federal Government is determined to reverse the trend.
“Every business concern needs support and we are ready as a government to assist the MSMEs,’’ Osinbajo said.
According to him, the clinic is a platform for entrepreneurs of MSMEs to discuss opportunities and challenges confronting their businesses.
Osinbajo advised the small and medium business owners to partner with all the government agencies by registering their businesses, to improve on their products.
He said that the time for registration haf reduced and that National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) approval would be shortened.
Osinbajo said that in 2018, the country would be sufficient in rice production.
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He called on the federal and state governments to patronise locally made goods, adding that the Armed Forces were already patronising made in Nigeria boots.
The Managing Director, Abuja Enterprise Agency, Muhammed Arabi, said that the agency had built the capacities of 310 farmers and created 248 jobs in the FCT communities.
Arabi said the convergence of all relevant ministries, departments and agencies to give solutions to the problem, respond to inquiries and provide the needed information would definitely lead to the success of the initiative.
He said that the agency had a strategic plan for 2017 to 2020 that would identify various projects and activities in FCT.
Arabi said the plan would be expected to create 20,000 jobs within the stated period.
He said that small and medium enterprise sector was a major driver of the economy.