FG disbursed N785bn to MSMEs in 4 years – Minister

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adebayo on Thursday said the Federal Government has disbursed N785 billion to over 10 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises across the country.

Adebayo who stated this at the end of the 14th meeting of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment held in Bauchi, said the MSMEs benefitted from the gesture in the past four years.

He said the disbursement were carried through the Bank of Industry (BOI) between 2019 and 2022.

The minister said the government had revised the MSME policy to drive the growth and competitiveness in the sector, adding that it has successfully increased the nation’s capacity to fund tech-driven MSMEs.

The BOI, he said, had deepened its capital base to $5 billion dollars along with its international partners like the African Export-Import Bank (Afrireximbank) and Credit Suisse, among others.

“This was done through our collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to secure the $500 million dollars Technology Fund.

“Furthermore, the MSME Survival Fund Initiative was launched in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan, which protected MSMEs from the shock of the pandemic.

“As of July 2022, N67.5 billion had been disbursed to over 1.2 million beneficiaries, thus protecting at-risk jobs and creating new ones,” he said.

He said the ministry and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council had committed towards ensuring that they do not just attract but also protect investments to genuinely benefit Nigeria and its citizens.

To achieve this, he says they further created an enabling business environment to attract and retain investment.

Accirding to him, Nigeria has revised its model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) to include a specific provision for investment facilitation that institutionalise the principle of supporting investors to actualise their investments.

“Our initiatives and successes are too numerous to mention at this forum, but there is still a lot of ground to cover.

“The nation is looking to us to solve big problems such as the unemployment of almost 30 million people who are mostly youth.

“Given the size of our challenges as a nation, we must design interventions to address the scale of the problems we need to solve.

“This will ensure we come up with creative and innovative ways to finance, implement and ultimately deliver transformative results,” he said.

Gov. Bala Mohammed said his administration had initiated and implemented policies with the objectives of moving the economy of the state along the trajectory of the nation’s overall development aspirations.

He added that those policies were also in tandem with President Muhammadu Buhari’s aspiration towards tackling the poverty level nationwide.

“I want to acknowledge the contribution of one of our own, Hajiya Mariam Katagum who represents us at the Federal Executive Council along with our brother, the Minister for Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.

“We are in the opposition but we have no regret that we have them as our representatives. They have really brought representation to the level of competence that I am proud of.

“I must thank Mr President for allowing them to always contribute. Bauchi is a state of Buhari and Buhari is Bauchi state and that’s why even as a governor in the opposition, I know the position of Mr President,” he said.

It was reported that highlight of the event include exhibition of a Nigerian assembled electric car, fabricated electric cables tiles among other products produced by agencies under the ministry.