Osinbajo assures of increased support for MSMEs

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has restated commitment of the Buhari administration in providing support to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in order to raise hope, create jobs and opportunities that will produce growth and development in the country.

Osinbajo, stated this yesterday at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, where he was Special Guest of Honour at the University’s 33rd Inaugural Lecture, titled “From the Small Business to Big Business: A Future with Little Hope,”’ delivered by Prof. Oluseyi Oduyoye.

Earlier in the lecture, Prof. Oduyoye, who attended Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, at the same time with the Vice President, said while there was much to be done in the MSMEs space to achieve the desired objectives, issues around integrity in the conduct of small businesses has to be addressed as well.

He submitted that lack of integrity is among factors militating against the growth of small businesses in the country.

He urged “aspiring small business owners who have the ambition of becoming big players in the future to note that the qualities of integrity and customer satisfaction are key to the success of any business.”

Oduyoye, a professor of Business Administration, further stated that as significant as MSMEs are to the economy of nations, it is noteworthy that the financing gap for the sector in many developing countries is a militating factor for growth.

Prof. Osinbajo noted that Federal and State Governments “must keep working on small businesses because that is the future of our country. There is no question that the economic future of our country will depend on small businesses.”

He then explained that this was why the MSME Clinics were designed by the Federal Government to bring regulatory agencies, whose work affects the business experience of MSMEs, in direct interface with small business owners in the same spot.

“What we do is to visit the States with the regulatory agencies, we would also go with FIRS, NAFDAC, SON, CAC, and co. These regulatory agencies would meet with the MSMEs and discuss their various problems. The obvious reason is that MSMEs are indisputably the engine of growth in any economy.”

Speaking specifically on recent government interventions, Prof. Osinbajo said “one of the things we did with MSMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic and right afterward is what we call the MSMEs Survival Fund.”

“The MSMEs Survival Fund gave almost a million businesses support after the pandemic. We paid three months’ salary of several of the MSMEs, especially private schools – private primary schools, private secondary schools. We paid for teachers and also for several other businesses.”