Osinbajo to inaugurate MSME clinic in Ondo State

•N’Assembly seeks agric villages to create jobs
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will on Thursday launch the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Clinic in Ondo State.

The Special Adviser to the Ondo State Governor on Public and Inter-Govermental Affairs, Mrs. Olubunmi Ademosu disclosed this at the weekend in Akure.

She said the scheme is aimed at reducing poverty among the over 10, 000 people expected to benefit from it, adding that it is targeted at developing small and medium entrepreneurs in the country.

According to her, it had been organised in some major cities like Aba, Ilorin, Jos, Katsina and Calabar with about 8,000 MSMEs benefiting so far.

She said: “Owners of micro, small and medium enterprises are expected to focus on capacity building before accessing the most appropriate financial facility. This shortcoming explains why businesses shut down few months after their establishments.

“Access to finance for at least, five years is the right structure for these businesses, and government is working towards addressing it with the establishment of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).”

The Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are involved in facilitating the access.

Others are the National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Consumers Protection Council, (CPC) and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

She also listed other participating federal agencies as: Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM).

Meanwhile, the National Assembly has recommended the establishment of agricultural villages in the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The Director General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Ladi Hamalai, disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja.

She said although there had been some growth in the agricultural sector in the past years, it has not translated into job creation.

The two-day agro-investment policy dialogue was organised for federal legislators, researchers and relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The Chairman, House Committee on Agricultural Production and Services, Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno) expressed regret that Nigeria was yet to fully utilize the opportunities that abound in agriculture and its value chains.

“Less than 40 per cent of Nigeria’s 84 million hectares of arable land are cultivated, while over 19 million youths remain unemployed.
“Budgetary allocations to the agricultural sector has been around two percent for several years, which is a far cry from the 10 per cent bench mark in the Maputo Declaration,” he said.