The Federal Government, in collaboration with key MSME-focused agencies and development finance institutions, has unveiled plans to introduce some interventions targeted at 1.3 million MSMEs in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCTI in its drive towards job creation and improving the performance of the non-oil sector of the economy.
The proposed initiative, which was announced in a statement issued on Tuesday from the Office of the Vice-President signed by the Director of Information, Olusola Abiola, would be coordinated by the MSME and Job Creation unit of the Vice President’s office.
The statement reads in part: “The MSME and Job Creation Unit of the Vice President’s Office which is coordinating the interventions has disclosed that the interventions are geared towards ensuring the realisation of the Tinubu administration’s commitment to job creation and economic diversification with the MSMEs playing critical roles.
“The interventions which are to be completed in 17 States and FCT are Shared Centres for MSMEs providing 4 markets with 300kva Solar Panels and Mini-grids to provide 8 hours of electricity a day to 6 Fashion Hubs and 2 Furniture Clusters.
“Other interventions are for car painting/drying hubs and cold rooms for sea food storage among others”, it added.
Specifically, the states to benefit from the interventions include Abia, Rivers, Jigawa, Benue, Borno, Lagos, Ekiti, Niger, Sokoto, Enugu, Gombe, Akwa Ibom, Yobe, Ondo, Osun, Bayelsa, Imo and FCT.”
In addition, Abiola stated that 12 other interventions were scheduled to be completed before December 2024.
The Director listed the MSME that would partner the Federal Government on the MSMEs’ interventions as including the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Bank of Industry (BoI), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
Others are Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), and Bank of Agriculture (BoA)
