The Minister of Industry, Trade Investment, Mr.
Segun Aganga, says the Federal Government
has to place emphasis on the growth of Micro
Small and Medium Enterprises to enhance an
inclusive economic growth.
He said the government had identified seven
key barriers hindering the growth of the
MSMEs in the country and was already
striving to address them one after the other.
Aganga, who spoke at a Fidelity Bank SME
Forum in Lagos, said, “For the first time in the
history of this country, we have a government
that is taking the MSME as one of the most
important sectors of this economy; we are
treating this area as a sector. We have a new
programme called the National Enterprise
Development Programme, which aims to
remove all the barriers and work on what will
enable businesses to grow.
“We have raised it to the highest level; we have
an MSME national council that is chaired by
the vice president and has state governors,
ministers and agencies. The whole idea is to
accelerate the development of this sector,
harmonise and have better coordination and
institutionalise the support we give to the
sector. For the first time in the history of the
country, we now have states’ MSME council
addressing those issues.
“The seven issues are access to finance, access to
market, linking innovation and technology to
the SMEs in the country and industrial skill
development. Again for the first time, we are
now addressing each one of them and making
life easier for the sector. So, we have a
programme and if we are allowed to continue
and finish the work, in four years time, there
will be a complete change. That is what we
need to do to have inclusive economic growth.
That is what we must do to create jobs.”
According to the minister, the Federal
Government has reduced the cost of registering
the SMEs by 60 per cent, a situation that has
led to an increase of 52 per cent in the MSMEs
moving from informal to formal sector.
He noted that the Fidelity SME Forum was one
of the important ways of communicating and
engaging with the sector.
Fidelity Bank, he said, had supported the
SMEs, adding that the bank was among the
top three banks in the country supporting the
SMEs.
“I encourage banks to support the SMEs. It is
not about buying Treasury bills and bonds
and making 10 per cent, you must be relevant
to the Nigerian economy. You must play your
role in terms of supporting the growth of the
Nigerian economy; you must play your role
in terms of job creation. That is the way that
other countries are growing and our banks
must do the same. Fidelity Bank has taken
this to a different level,” Aganga said.
The Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank, Mr.
Nnamdi Okonkwo, said the lender had
brought Aganga to speak on the forum
because “at different times, we have brought
different people to the Fidelity SME Forum, but
it gets to a point where you have to bring
someone from the policy side, and that is why
this minister that has been very supportive of
the SMEs was brought to the forum. What we
are doing corresponds with the Federal
Government’s national development strategy.”

Copyright PUNCH.