Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are very important and government will rely on them to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country, the Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr Dasuki Arabi said yesterday.
Mr. Arabi who is renowned for his drive in carrying out reforms, says that the mandate of the agency is to inform Nigerians of reforms and initiatives of the government.
He spoke during a one-day forum organized by the agency in partnership with the Federal Capital Territory Administration and the Civil Society Organizations in identifying service delivery challenges in MSMEs interventions.
He said: “In the light of the ENDSARS protest that was hijacked by hoodlums, we realized that, there is a need for us to bring the Civil Society Groups together to inform them of the various interventions of government to improve the living standard of the youths and Nigerians in general.”
“We have brought officials of government agencies providing support for SMEs and Nigerians to talk to them so that we speak one language, understand what the programs are and to guide them and they go out to guide their members on how to benefit from these interventions.”
Also at the event was the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), who was ably represented by Mohammed Lawal Abubakar, Director Economic Research and Statistics of the FCT.
While speaking to reporters, he said the pandemic has affected the economy of the country and there is a need to revitalize the economy by supporting SMEs in a bid to foster economic balance in Nigeria.
He said: “We are going to support all those SMEs because they lost a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we are working on that.
“And what we are doing in the FCT is that we are partnering with World Bank, definitely by January we will commence operation.”
He also said the FCTA is using its platform, the Abuja Enterprise Agency as a means to orientate SMEs on how to get government subventions to boost their businesses. He said the Abuja Enterprise Agency is the first of its kind and it is a veritable initiative in solving SMEs challenges.
“As we rightly said, we have a one stop shop. And that is under the purview of the Abuja Enterprise Agency and the initiative is the first of its kind in Nigeria. So it’s just to see how we can bring them together, listen to them and solve their problems.”
“Is like the issue of registration, some of them might not be able to meet up with the demands of those registration issues, so we assist in doing that.”
Aliyu Umar Aliyu
Principal Information Officer
BPSR.
