ABUJA – The Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, has constituted a Presidential Committee to disburse single digit loan facility to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
Vice President Kashim Shettima disclosed the information on Tuesday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, saying it’s a deliberate move to facilitate growth of MSMEs in the country.
The committee is headed by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Sen. John Enoh, has Ministers of Science and Technology; Women Affairs; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs as members.
Others include the CEOs of Bank of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Bank of Agriculture (BoI), Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and the representative of NACCIMA and the organised private sector.
To this end, the National Council on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which is the steering committee will interface with the Central Bank of Nigeria to distribute the loans to beneficiaries.
According to the vice president, it behooves the Federal Government, through its agencies and partners, to support growth in the MSME space and facilitate job creation across different sectors for Nigerians.
Reeling out the mandate of the committee, Shettima said the efforts of the administration of President Bola Tinubu in supporting small businesses, evident in important policies and programmes, need to be complemented by stakeholders, especially the private sector.
“The loan scheme will be a partnership between state governments and financial institutions aimed at enhancing access to finance for MSMEs at single-digit rates across the country,” the VP emphasised.
He advised state governments to set up mechanisms that are devoid of political interests to drive the implementation of the syndicated de-risked loans for the MSMEs scheme.
“Some of these initiatives are laudable and will need to outlive the present administrations in the states. Regardless of political affiliations, Nigerians must be seen to be the ultimate beneficiaries of these schemes that we are trying to put in place,” the VP stated.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs, Mr. Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, presented the ‘syndicated de-risked loans’ scheme for small businesses, seeking the cooperation of members and describing it as a game-changing programme to provide affordable and available loans for businesses.
Temitola described the initiative is in acknowledgement of the president’s passion and commitment to the development of small businesses and aimed at providing more jobs for Nigerians.
In his presentation on the state of MSMEs in Nigeria, the DG SMEDAN, Mr Charles Odii, said the agency was proposing an initiative which was borne from a 3-day MSME conference held in 2024.
He said the initiative known as the GROW Nigeria strategy is to provide guidance, resources, opportunities, and the workforce to support the about 40 million small businesses across 8 distinct sectors.
By Innocent Oweh @TheINDEPENDENT
