Director General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr Olawale Fasanya, has revealed that the Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) contributed about 46.3 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Fasanya revealed this on Wednesday, in Calabar, at the graduation ceremony of the 90 persons trained under the National Business Skills Development Initiative (NBSDI).
According to him, the MSMEs is contributing about 46.3 percent to the nation’s GDP through a total number of 37 million MSMEs in the country.
Represented by Mr Moshood Lawan, Assistant Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion, SMEDAN, Fasanya also disclosed that MSMEs provide about 63 million employment to Nigerians while it accounts for about 6.2 per cent of exports.
He said that it was in the bid to support the MSMEs in a most practical way that the Agency developed the NBSDI.
He explained that NBSDI is a programme designed to provide entrepreneurship skills, vocational skills and provision of empowerment materials to fill the capacity gap of the youths.
According to him, the NBSDI enhances youth engagement in productive ventures, thereby ensuring they earn income through filling the artisanal gap in Nigeria.
“The initiative is designed to ensure that more professional services will be provided by local and well trained young artisans leading to reduction in job losses to immigrants from neighbouring countries.
“It seeks to pursue a drastic reduction in dependency poverty as most of the out of school youths who still rely on stipends from parents are empowered to become self reliant.”
He said that under the initiative, about 3,330 entrepreneurs would be impacted across the 36 States of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The SMEDAN boss urged the graduands to remain committed to the initiative by putting to good use their equipment.
Similarly, Mr Great Usetu, Special Assistant on Entrepreneurship to Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River, urged the beneficiaries to show the Nigeria spirit in them and become employers of labour themselves.
Usetu noted that they would contribute to a better society if they apply what they learnt in running their businesses.
“You will not only be employers of labour, but also contribute your quota to the reduction of insecurity in the country,” he said. (NAN)
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