Katagum

The Nigerian government has narrated it’s concerned towards improving access to finance for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment,  Ambassador Mariam Yalwaji  Katagum, made the assurance at this year’s Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) Annual Conference with the theme,  “The Role of Nigeria’s MSMEs, Export, Commodities, Trade & Investment in stabilising the Post COVID-19 Economy: Issues & Challenges”     which took place in Abuja.

The minister,    who was the Special Guest at the event, stated: “The Federal Government has, overtime, created platforms to improve access to finance for MSMEs to boost production, increase the value of trade, enhance the investment climate, foster innovation and entrepreneurship. This is in addition to the deliberate and pragmatic policies geared towards supporting and sustaining small businesses in the country, thereby equipping entrepreneurs to compete globally, especially under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA)”

Katagum said to guarantee continuity in support of MSMEs in the country, the Federal Government harnessed the prime policies of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) into the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) to sustainably create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

“These policies are aimed at boosting productivity levels of businesses in the country, thereby accelerating the growth of the domestic market and creating profitable connections to regional, continental and global market,” she said.

The minister disclosed that at the last  Presidential Retreat for members of the Federal Executive  Council, President Muhammadu Buhari, underscored the importance of MSMEs as engine of economic growth and pledged that government would support MSMEs, including removing all bottlenecks to MSME’s access to finance.

She pointed out that Buhari  recently inaugurated the National Council on Monitoring and Evaluation of Executive Order 005 on local content which will, among others, be a game changer for MSMEs.

Katagum also stated other pro-MSME interventions by government, such as the recent approval of the revised National Policy on MSMEs, the planned floating of an MSME Micro Finance Bank by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and government’s emphasis on single digit interest credit facility for MSMEs.

She promised  that the ministry would continue to proactively engage Commodities Associations with a view to ensuring that challenges mitigating against their operations are tackled, especially now that the country is gradually exiting the COVID-19 pandemic.

She stated:  “And in the same vein, the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment is expanding its network of collaboration with the state governments to provide the needed platform for attracting investments. In this regard, more States are encouraged and supported to organise investment summits in order to mobilise the investing public to consider Nigeria as a preferred destination.”

The minister appreciated the  wide coverage of the media and urged all members of CICAN to continue in providing the much-needed publicity for all government programmes, projects and policies