The Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria has constituted a Presidential Committee to disburse single digit loan facility to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, in the country.
Vice President Kashim Shettima, who disclosed this on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa Abuja, noted that the move is a deliberate one to facilitate growth of MSMEs in Nigeria.
The Vice President emphasized that it behooves the federal government, through its agencies and partners, to support growth in the MSME space as well as facilitate job creation across different sectors for Nigerians.
Reeling out the mandate of the committee, Shettima said the efforts of the administration of President Bola Tinubu in supporting small businesses, needed to be supported by stakeholders, especially the private sector.
He encouraged state governments to put in place mechanisms that are devoid of political interests to drive the implementation of the syndicated de-risked loans for the MSMEs scheme.
The committee headed by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, John Enoh, has Ministers of Science and Technology; Women Affairs; Minister of State for Agriculture and that of Food Security and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs as members.
Other members include the CEOs of Bank of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN),Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Bank of Agriculture (BOI), and that of the Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and the representative of NACCIMA and the organized private sector.
