Osinbajo inaugurates MSMEs Council

Kindly Share This Story:

Vice President Yemi Osinabjo

Advertisement

Vice President Yemi Osinabjo on Wednesday inaugurated a streamlined and refocused National Council on Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The Council, which is chaired by the Vice President and assisted by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, has been reduced from an initial membership of 43 to 21.

Osinbajo attributed the reduction to taking into consideration effectiveness in delivery.

He said that the Council is expected to effectively coordinate the enterprise development efforts made by the various tiers of Government, International Development Partners (IDP) and the private sector towards job creation, wealth creation and poverty alleviation in Nigeria.

Stressing that it was important to inaugurate the council even in the absence of some of its members, he said “There is much work to be done.”

The council, which is the coordinating platform for the implementation of all development programmes within the sub-sector especially the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP), a repackaged and strategic platform to deliver growth and sustainability within Nigeria’s micro, small, and medium enterprises sub-sector, was first launched in 2014 by the past administration.

Osinbajo said that the MSME is the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialization and inclusive economic development and the most important component of the industrialization drive in the country’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), being the primary drivers of employment, wealth creation, and poverty alleviation.

The Council, he said shall be the apex body on MSMEs development in the country, providing guidance and coordination on the establishment of strategies and policies for the wholesome support of MSME development in Nigeria.

“It shall also engineer the institution of effective monitoring and evaluation strategies to ensure that MSMEs’ development targets are achieved.” he added

The Council has membership drawn from the public and private sector institutions, and will have the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) as its secretariat.

Osinbajo said “It is important to re-emphasize the point that this Council will have the same success delivery platform as the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Committee (PEBEC).

“The membership of the Council has been streamlined for the purpose of achieving results without undue bureaucracy.  For instance, the existing membership has been reduced from 43 to 21 for effectiveness and purposefulness” he said.

Terms of reference for the council include coordinating the activities of all stakeholders in both the  private and public sectors to ensure that all efforts and activities  are geared towards the priority sectors of the economy: Guiding the Federal Government on the formulation of broad policies and strategies to drive the wholesome development of the MSMEs sub-sector in Nigeria: Coordinating the roles and responsibilities of  Government  Ministries,  Departments and Agencies  (MDAs), State and Local  Governments and other  stakeholders responsible for MSME development:

Promoting inter-agency synergy and cooperation in MSME development:

Encouraging and strengthening Public-Private- Partnership and Public-Public-Partnership in MSME development:

Ensuring the creation of an enabling environment to facilitate the development of MSME clusters, infrastructure upgrade, access to finance, MSME capacity building, etc:

Fostering increased awareness and ensuring stakeholders’ buy-in on MSME development programmes, initiatives and projects:

Ensuring the institution of an effective framework for monitoring and evaluating the impact of MSME policies, programmes, projects and initiatives:

And ensuring that the principles of the National Policy on MSMEs are achieved and reviewed as the need arises.

Members of the council include: The minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Minister of state, Industry, Trade and Investment, Ministers of Finance, Mines and Steel Development, Agriculture, Communications, Budget and National Planning, Water Resources, Power,
Works and Housing, Science and Technology, Women Affairs, Minister of state for Budget and National Planning, Central Bank Governor,  Chairman Nigeria Governors Forum, Economic Adviser to the President, Special Assistant to Vice President on MSMEs, President Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), President National Association of Small and Medium Enterprise, Director General SMEDAN and the Minister of Information.


Kindly Share This Story:

Related Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

amehnews greetings

x
%d bloggers like this: