The government of Nigeria is set to support small businesses in some selected states across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The development was disclosed in a press release on Tuesday by Olusola Abiola , the Director of Information of the office of the Vice President.
The support program which is a partnership exercise between the Office of the Vice President and key federal government agencies responsible for driving Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) growth in Nigeria, will witness the execution of various MSME-focused interventions, targeting 1.3 million beneficiaries across 17 States and FCT.
Their action is geared towards complementing the Federal Government’s efforts to improve the economy and create more jobs.
According to the Vice President, the interventions are geared towards ensuring the realisation of the Tinubu administration’s commitment to job creation and economic diversification with the MSMEs playing critical roles.
The interventions would be carried out in Shared Centres across 17 States and FCT are for MSMEs providing 4 markets with 300kva Solar Panels and Mini grids to provide 8 hours of electricity a day to 6 Fashion Hubs and 2 Furniture Clusters. Other interventions are for car painting/ drying hubs and cold rooms for sea food storage among others. This exercise, based on the directives of the VP will witness the completion of five intervention projects by December 2023. While 12 other interventions are scheduled for completion before December 2024.
The States to benefit from the interventions include Abia, Rivers, Jigawa, Benue, Borno, Lagos, Ekiti, Niger, Sokoto, Enugu, Gombe, Akwa Ibom, Yobe, Ondo, Osun, Bayelsa, Imo and FCT.
MSME partners collaborating with the Office of the Vice President to execute these interventions include Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Bank of Industry (BOI), Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), among others.
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