VP’s Remarks At The 20th Edition Of MSME Clinics In Kaduna State

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OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE ATTEST TO CREATIVITY, TALENT, ENERGY OF NIGERIAN ENTREPRENEURS SAYS OSINBAJO AT 20^TH EDITION OF MSME CLINICS

*Reiterates FG’s role in providing enabling environment

“I have travelled extensively around Nigeria for the Clinics, and have seen time and time again, overwhelming evidence of the talent, creativity and energy of Nigerian entrepreneurs. And I am more convinced than ever that our primary role as a Government is to continue to create an enabling environment for all these small businesses to thrive and to expand.” 

 REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE 20^TH EDITION OF THE MSME CLINIC IN KADUNA STATE, ON 4^TH OCTOBER, 2018.

PROTOCOLS

I bring you greetings from President Muhammadu Buhari, for whom as you know, Kaduna is first home. Kaduna, of course, is where he lives although as you all know, he’s from Katsina State and he asked me to specially greet you here and thank His Excellency, the Governor for his kindness and hospitality all the time.

Also permit me to take this opportunity to extend my sincere congratulations first to the graduates of KADSTEP & KADAT programmes, whose graduation ceremony we have just witnessed and also commend His Excellency, Gov. Nasir El Rufai and his team for the outstanding state of affairs in Kaduna State. There is no doubt that in the past three years, Kaduna State has experienced perhaps, its most remarkable period of development on every front from infrastructure, to social development and entrepreneurship.

I doubt whether if there is any other State that has caught the attention of development partners as the Kaduna State government in the past few years, and we really commend you and congratulate you all for these great achievements that you made.

We are here today to flag off the 20th edition of the National MSME Clinics. The MSME Clinics is a Federal Government initiative, whose sole objective is to work with State governments to support small, medium enterprises.  The engine of commercial growth in any economy is small businesses and we cannot seriously plan for economic growth without a focused plan to assist small businesses.

Today I will be stopping at the Kaduna central market to witness and interact with some of our Trader Moni Scheme beneficiaries. Trader Moni is our collateral and interest-free micro-credit loans to petty traders. These are the millions of traders at the bottom of the pyramid, who in the past had been ignored.  We consider them an important part of the small businesses that we have in our country today.

I will also unveil as we go along and commission the Kaduna State Tech Hub and I really want to commend the Governor and the government of this State for the very many businesses and commercial interventions that you made; from KADSTEP to KADAT to KADWEALTH and so many KAD, KAD, KAD! Today we will be looking at the Kaduna ICT Hub a few moments from now.

I would like the government and people of Kaduna to know that the Federal Government is with you as you position and reposition this State for the greatness that it truly deserves.

The National MSME Clinics brings government closer to the people by assembling in one place, all the regulatory agencies whose work have an impact on the business experience of MSMEs, thereby providing one single platform to which small businesses can bring their business-related challenges, for the intervention of regulatory agencies, instead of having to go from agency to agency trying to solve these problems.

Today’s event as I said, is the 20th edition of the National MSME Clinics. Through the various editions, we have seen inspiring examples of how government can make a difference in the lives of entrepreneurs by paying attention to them and by demonstrating the political will to unwind bureaucratic bottlenecks that so frequently face our businesses.

MSMEs are also now better informed about the roles of the various Federal Government Agencies regulating their activities, as well as the incentives available for their benefit. I am also aware that most agencies during the MSME Clinics offer price reductions for product registration, and for all other pre-investment approvals.

For instance, it was observed during some of the earlier editions of the Clinics, that a lot of MSMEs were finding it difficult to register their businesses as a result of cost, so the Federal Government through the Corporate Affairs Commission approved a special window of 90 days from 1st October 2018 to Dec 31st 2018, to register businesses at N5000 only.  Now, this is a deduction as you know, from the N10,000 that used to be cost for registering businesses. But this window is available for 90 days from October to December 31st 2018. This will afford more MSMEs an opportunity to formalize their businesses.

States like Abia, Osun, Plateau, Kwara, Cross River, and FCT have all gone on to set up One-Stop-Shops after the Clinics. And I want to explain very quickly what the One-Stop-Shop is; these One-Stop-Shops bring together all the relevant agencies that regulate businesses in one place, under one roof and this is to enable small businesses to access their services on an on-going basis.

So, the Federal Government is willing to partner with the Kaduna State Government to immediately set up one of those one-stop MSMEs right here in Kaduna State, with all of the regulatory agencies under one roof so that businesses can simply go here and get all of their relevant approvals without having to travel around the country to Abuja or Lagos as the case may be.

Also, as part of our efforts at deepening the impact of the Clinics, we will be establishing, as heard from the Managing Director of BOI, shared facilities for MSMEs based on a partnership between the Federal Government, States including Kaduna state of course, Bank of Industry, NEXIM Bank, FIRS, NAFDAC, SON and interested private sector partners. These shared facilities will be fully equipped with machinery and equipment required for various trades and businesses. Small businesses can then do their businesses at those locations at a reasonable cost.

What this means is that MSMEs are spared the financial burden of having to buy their own equipment or having to rent the same in order to be able to do business. Where possible, these shared facilities would have been pre-certified by relevant agencies, removing the need for MSMEs to pursue these certifications by themselves. Kaduna State is one of the States selected for the establishment of the first pilot shared facilities.

Sometime in August of this year, the maiden edition of the National MSME Awards was organized, as an outreach initiative of the National MSME Clinic platform, to recognize and to reward outstanding MSMEs all over the country.

Joseph Malo, a 24-year-old indigene of Plateau State and CEO of Bennie Agro Processing Ltd., emerged as the MSME of the Year, taking home a brand new car and other rewards.

Chukwuma Promise from Imo State, CEO of Promakar Farms, won the Agriculture award, while Glimmer Touch – a company run by two girls from Cross River, who are not even 12 years old yet – they won the Young MSMEs of the Year category; and Hanbows from Ibadan also took the award for fashion and style. And we have seen today, also the outstanding winner who has been here, who you’ve all seen from this State, have already congratulated him for doing a very great work that he did.

There were other winners and finalists in various other categories, all of them outstanding. As I said to all the participants during the awards, I have travelled extensively around Nigeria for the Clinics, and have seen time and time again, overwhelming evidence of the talent, creativity and energy of Nigerian entrepreneurs. And I am more convinced than ever that our primary role as a Government is to continue to create an enabling environment for all these small businesses to thrive and to expand.

As an immediate step, we will ensure that all the finalists from this maiden edition of the MSME Awards will be supported with publicity and media exposure, to enable them to reach even larger markets at home and abroad.

As I close, let me reiterate the commitment of the Federal Government to continuous investment in the Nigerian people, especially by way of our Social Investment Programmes. Here in Kaduna State, as you have heard from His Excellency the Governor, our N-Power programme has engaged 18,065 beneficiaries as at August 2018. And I am sure that as represented here some of our N-Power volunteers.

With the School Feeding Programme, we give a free meal a day to over a million school children every day in 3,930 schools here in Kaduna State.  That programme also employs 12, 376 cooks in this same programme.  We have given loans under the GEEP programme to over 19,455 beneficiaries so far.  In our National Cash Transfer Programme, we pay N5000 a month to 10,482 of the poorest households in Kaduna State.

I like to thank the State Government for cooperating with us, and we are confident that together we will bring the desired change to you the good people of Kaduna State.  This State is important from every point of view, it’s important as a melting pot for all Nigerians who come here to live and to do business and it’s important for us to support this State.  The best party in Africa, the APC, rates this State and as you can see for yourself the dynamic governor, Nasir El-Rufai, leads it.

God bless Kaduna State, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.