The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Richard Adebayo, said that the Federal Government had in four years, disbursed about N785 billion to over 10 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises owners in Nigeria.
Adebayo made the disclosure in Bauchi on Thursday at the end of the 14th meeting of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment.
The disbursement, which the minister said were carried out between 2019 and July 2022, was made possible through the Bank of Industry (BOI).
Adebayo noted that government had revised the MSME policy to drive the growth and competitiveness in the sector, which according to him, has successfully increased the nation’s capacity to fund tech-driven MSMEs.
According to him, while the federal government’s partner, BOI has further deepened its capital base to $5 billion along with its international partners like the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK) and Credit Suisse, among others.
“This was done through our collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to secure the $500 million Technology Fund.
“Furthermore, the MSME Survival Fund Initiative was launched in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan, which protected MSMEs from the shock of the pandemic.
“As of July 2022, N67.5 billion had been disbursed to over 1.2 million beneficiaries, thus protecting at-risk jobs and creating new ones,” he said.
According to him, because the ministry and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council are committed to ensuring they do not just attract but also protect investments that genuinely benefit Nigeria and its citizens, it has further created an enabling business environment to attract and retain investment.
Adebayo further stated that based on this, the country had successfully revised its model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) to include a specific provision for investment facilitation that institutionalised the principle of supporting investors to actualise their investments.
“Our initiatives and successes are too numerous to mention at this forum, but there is still a lot of ground to cover.
“The nation is looking to us to solve big problems such as the unemployment of almost 30 million people who are mostly youth.
“Given the size of our challenges as a nation, we must design interventions to address the scale of the problems we need to solve.
“This will ensure we come up with creative and innovative ways to finance, implement and ultimately deliver transformative results,” said the Minister.
Also, Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, said his administration had been initiating and implementing policies with the objectives of moving the economy of the state along the trajectory of the nation’s overall development aspirations.
He added that those policies were also in tandem with President Muhammadu Buhari’s aspiration to tackling the poverty level nationwide.
“I want to acknowledge the contribution of one of our own, Hajiya Mariam Katagum who represents us at the Federal Executive Council along with our brother, the Minister for Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.
“We are in the opposition but we have no regret that we have them as our representatives. They have really brought representation to the level of competence that I am proud of.
“I must thank Mr President for allowing them to always contribute. Bauchi state is a state of Buhari and Buhari is Bauchi state and that’s why even as a governor in the opposition I know the position of Mr President,” he said.
The highlight of the occasion was the exhibition of a Nigerian assembled electric car, fabricated electric cables, tiles among other made in Nigeria products by agencies under the ministry.
