The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN)

  • SMEDAN unveils Conditional Grant Scheme for micro enterprises

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) yesterday launched the Conditional Grant Scheme for micro enterprises in Nigeria. The scheme is expected to lift the sub-sector, making it more efficient and financially viable.

    Speaking yesterday at the launch of the scheme in Lagos, Director-General, SMEDAN, Dikko Radda,  said the micro enterprises sub-sector is a critical sub-sector in the Nigerian enterprise development space.

    He said the sector collectively account for a majority of the enterprises in Nigeria and also account for the highest number of jobs created in the economy. The findings in the National MSMEs survey of 2010 and 2013 revealed that micro enterprises represent 99.87 per cent (17,261,753) and 99.80 per cent (36,994,578) of total enterprises respectively.

    “In terms of employment, the total number of persons employed by micro enterprises in 2010 was 15,641,460 (representing 90.41 per cent of total number of employed persons). In 2013, the total number of persons employed by micro enterprises was 57,836,391 (representing 96.88 per cent of total number of persons employed). “However, it is important to note that over 90 per cent of the micro enterprises are informal and populated by people at the bottom of the pyramid. Hence, the need for the Agency to conceptualize a flagship programme referred to as Conditional Grant Scheme for micro enterprises in Nigeria,” he said.

    According to Radda, the justification for a special entrepreneurship/vocational development intervention for the entrepreneurs at the bottom of the pyramid cannot be overemphasized based on the need to graduate informal enterprises to the formal sector, industrialize the nation, develop the rural economy, stem youth restiveness and unemployment and create the platform for sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria.

    “This present initiative (Conditional Grant Scheme) looks to promoting the activities of micro enterprises across the country in the areas of capacity building and the delivery of post-intervention support services such as access to finance (conditional grants), markets, workspace, technology, among others”.

  • SMEDAN to select 108 schools for entrepreneurship programme – D-G

    SMEDAN to select 108 schools for entrepreneurship programme – D-G

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency ( SMEDAN ) on Monday said 50 students from 108 schools across Nigeria would be selected for the National School Entrepreneurship Programme ( N-SEP ).

    The SMEDAN Director-General, Alhaji Dikko Radda, disclosed this in Katsina at the opening ceremony of the training of both primary and secondary school teachers on the programme.

    Radda, represented by Mr Suleiman Tanimu, a SMEDAN Deputy Director, said the programme was being organised by the agency in collaboration with Students for Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship ( SAGE ), U.S.

    He said that the schools targeted for the pilot phase of the programme with the theme: “Mind Shift Entrepreneurship’’ are from Katsina, Bauchi, Kwara, Ondo, Ebonyi and Cross Rivers States.

    “Eighteen schools will be selected from each state, nine primary and nine secondary schools.

    “Among these nine schools, seven will be public schools, while the remaining two will be private.

    “Fifty students are expected to benefit from the programme from each school,’’ the SMEDAN director-general said.

    He said that the programme was aimed at providing access to functional entrepreneurship among students to eliminate unemployment among youths in the country.

    “We want to involve students at lower levels so that after graduation, they will not only become self-reliant but employers of labour.

    “Primary school pupils and secondary schools students are our targets, we want to catch them young,’’ Radda said.

    The director-general disclosed that the students would be taught how to set up businesses of their own after which they would come up with an idea to develop a business of their choice.

    He said that there would be a national competition, where the best students would be selected to represent the country at an international competition.

    The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Halimatu Idris said that the state government had spent a lot of money on skills acquisition programmes to make youths self-reliant.

    The commissioner, who was represented by Alhaji Tanimu Zubairu, urged participants to pay attention on the programmme and prepare to teach others what they learned.

    NAN

  • NDDC, NSIP to tackle poverty in Niger Delta – Ekere

    NDDC, NSIP to tackle poverty in Niger Delta – Ekere

    The Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC ) says it will work with the National Social Investment Programme ( NSIP ) to eradicate poverty in Niger Delta.

    NDDC Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, said this on Thursday in Port Harcourt, when the Special Adviser to the President and Head of NSIP, Mrs Maryam Uwais, led a delegation to the commission’s headquarters.

    According to a statement by the commission’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Ibitoye Abosede, NDDC will support NSIP to fight poverty in Niger Delta because poverty knows no political affiliation or religious inclination.

    “I am happy that NSIP is fighting poverty and striving to give hope to the poorest of the poor – who arguably are more in the Niger Delta that produces the nation’s wealth.

    “The present NDDC board and management are making efforts to return the commission to its core mandate. This explains why we currently have as much as 8,000 projects ongoing,” he said.

    Ekere said the desire to end poverty in the region led the board to adopt a 4-R strategy which focuses on redefining the commission’s processes.

    He said the strategy aimed at restructuring the commission’s balance sheet; restore its core mandate and reaffirm commitment to doing what was right and proper at all times.

    He said the strategy also entails reformation of the commission’s governance system to ensure it complies with extant rules and regulations.

    “NDDC has done a lot in infrastructure over the years; however, we also want to build human capital, which is the area that connects with NSIP mandate to fight poverty.

    “We are embarking on collaborations that will help; recently, we signed agreement with NEXIM bank to help us achieve this.

    “We want to create an export initiative in the agricultural sector – which will create jobs and help the nation’s economy, especially now that value of crude oil is waning,” he said.

    Ekere said the commission was in partnership with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency ( SMEDAN ) to create jobs for indigent youths and train women on businesses.

    Earlier, Uwais, the Head, NSIP, called on NDDC to assist the body to drive its four social investment programmes in the region.

    She said the Federal Government’s N-Power job programme for unemployed tertiary graduates in the country was by far “the largest spending item among its four social investment programmes.”

    “N-Power job scheme for unemployed graduates is running in 36 states and have seen 200,000 unemployed youths effectively enrolled, validated in 2016 and cleared to receive N30,000 monthly stipend.

    “The number of beneficiaries is expected to increase to about 400,000 in a couple of months,” she said.

    Uwais said they had made progress with GEEP, designed to empower market women, traders and artisans, with the disbursement of interest free loans.

    She said the portal for engagement of the beneficiaries would soon be opened and would last for a period of six weeks.

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  • Reps to investigate BoI, BoA, FMBN, NERFUND, others

    Reps to investigate BoI, BoA, FMBN, NERFUND, others

    The House of Representatives is to investigate the activities of federal financial institutions over their failure to fulfill their statutory mandates.

    An ad hoc Committee to undertake the investigation is expected to also proffer solutions on ways of streamlining their activities with a view of repositioning them for effective service delivery.

    The resolution of the House followed the adoption of a motion by Chukwuemeka Ujam (PDP, Enugu), who regretted that the primary aim of establishing DFIs like the Bank of Industry (BoI), the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) among several others has been defeated.

    According to him, none of the DFIs has been able to meet its mandate of providing long-term financing to the industrial and productive sector of the economy.

    He also said that the DFIs, set up to finance the establishment of large, medium and small scale industries,  as well as facilitate the expansion, diversification and modernization of the existing concerns have failed to carry out their set objectives.

    “It is of concern that despite the huge budgetary provisions being made for these DFIs over the years, their impact in stimulating economic renaissance is yet to be felt as these agencies have seemingly been unable to fulfill their statutory mandares, the resultant effect being the stultification of the nation’s economic growth.

    “I am however convinced that the current economic challenges being experienced in the country can be reversed within the shortest possible time if these DFIs are made to live up to their statutory obligations,” he said.

    The ad hoc committee has six weeks to report back to the House after the motion was unanimously passed.

    Similarly, the House has mandated its Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity to investigate the incidence of casualization and outsourcing of jobs in both private and public sectors of the economy.

    This followed the adoption of a motion by Wale Raji (APC, Lagos), who noted that casualization and outsourcing of jobs negates the provision of Section 7(1) of the Labour Act that no worker should be engaged on probation or temporary employment for more than three months.

    “It is however disturbing that some employers, especially in the banking and sectors, in an attempt to cover up their illegal acts, outsourced jobs to firms to recruit workers for them.

    “We should be concerned about the negative effects of casualization on workers which lead to deprivation of employment benefits and lack of legal status thus making them dispensable at the convenience of the employers”.

    The Committee was given six weeks to report back to the House for further legislative action.

    In a similar development, the House also has also mandated Committees on Commerce as well as Industry to liase with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Trade and Investment to formulate a blueprint that would encourage manufacturers of cellphones, electronics and electrical appliances to site their factories in Nigeria.

    Following the adoption of a motion by Henry Archibong (PDP, Akwa Ibom), the lawmakers pointed out that the  technological, financial and economic gains Nigeria stands to benefit from the localization of the plants and factories of those manufacturers through job creation and reduction of capital flight are immense.

    The mover of the motion said the import duties paid for the importation of the finished items are not commensurate with the skills and manpower training that will be acquired by millions of Nigerians across the country if such plants and factories are sited in Nigeria.

    The joint Committee was given six weeks to complete its assignment.