How govt can stimulate SMEs to generate 3m jobs yearly, by LCCI

The Director-General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Muda Yusuf has stated that proper repositioning and stimulation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can aid the generation of at least three million jobs yearly.

Yusuf, while speaking at a forum organised by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria, said entrepreneurship plays an important role in the economic growth and development of any nation.

According to him, it is a purposeful activity involving the initiation, promotion and distribution of wealth and service. He listed the obstacles affecting the growth of the SMEs sector to include skills and human capacity issues, harsh business environment, infrastructure lapses, policy and regulatory shortcomings, access and cost of funds, macroeconomic challenges and inadequate incentives for entrepreneurial development. He however called for collaboration between the public and private sectors; development of incubation centres and enterprise development centres; creation of Free trade zones; promotion of entrepreneurial skills in schools and colleges; and use mentoring as a means of business skills development to encourage skill sharing and long-term personal relationship between mentor and mentee.

He also stressed the need to provide vocational skills and income-generation opportunities for the marginalised, such as women, people with disabilities and the unemployed.

Similarly, the Director General/Chief Executive, Industrial Training Fund, Dr. (Mrs) Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, said ITF has achieved over 70 per cent job placement for its trainees across major sectors of the economy.

According to her, the ITF’s focus was to ensure 100 per cent employment for trainees that had benefitted from the various trainings conducted in collaboration with the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA and other organisations.