In the annual review of how Federal Government agencies relate to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the country, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo sent a clear message to the relevant MDAs: their role is to support the “hustle and bustle” of Nigerians involved in different companies by creating a conducive and conducive business environment.
Mr. Osinbajo made this statement today during the review meeting of stakeholders of the MSMEs Clinics in the Presidential Village, which was attended by heads and representatives of agencies such as SMEDAN, BOI, NEXIM, BOA, SON, FIRS, NAFDAC and others. .
According to him, “everyone knows that Nigerians are entrepreneurs, practically all Nigerians have some kind of business, as they say, some hustle and bustle or something else they are doing.
“People need the right environment and that is our role, that we understand that it is to facilitate and make it easier, not to become a stumbling block or a toll,” said the vice president, reiterating that the job of agencies is to facilitate things so that MSMEs do their business.
He also stressed the hard-working nature of the average Nigerian, noting that “this is a country where people want and want to work,” but added that “limitations are what we have to address. This would be dealt with by human beings and not by spirits ”.
Addressing the challenges, the vice president mentioned that “our creativity and innovation must be first and foremost to remove the obstacles, that is what will solve the problems of Nigeria, the implementation of the great policies that we have and depends on us.”
The vice president spoke about how it has taken some young Nigerians three years to obtain the registration numbers for their businesses. He said he was told that in some other nearby African nations, the same registration takes 6 weeks.
He said, for example, “If you get the Food and Drug Administration registration anywhere else, you can be in a Nigerian supermarket … and they come and compete with our own people here. This is happening in all aspects, even with exports ”.
In her remarks, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagun, thanked the Vice President for his leadership role and also commended stakeholders and state governors for their collaboration and cooperation in conducting Clinics for MSMEs.
Present at the meeting were the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry, Olukayode Pitan; The Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Ezra Yakusak; SMEDAN CEO Dikko Umaru Radda; The managing director of NEXIM Bank, Abba Bello; The Managing Director of the Nigerian Development Bank, Tony Okpanachi; The Director General of the Nigerian Standards Organization, Farouk Salim; Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Ali Hassan. Others include representatives from CAC, FIRS, NAFDAC, NITDA, and Access Bank.
Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Advertising