Business
‘MSMEs Can Employ 20m Nigerians’
The Central Bank of Nige
ria (CBN) has said the over 20 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country could accommodate over 20 million unemployed Nigerians.
The CBN Head of Financial System Strategy (FSS) 2020 Unit, Mr Oluwatoyin Jokosenumi, said this at a seminar for financial journalists in Kaduna.
Jokosenumi spoke on “Rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP and Implications for FSS 2020″.
Jokosenumi said that the MSMEs were handicapped because they had not been encouraged.
He said the government should provide access to finance for MSMEs and ensure that there were consistent capacity building programmes to grow the sub-sector.
According to him, there is the need to increase the provision of long-term loans and promote financial reporting for Nigerians to appreciate government’s efforts on the development of the sub-sector.
He also called for collaboration among the players in the financial sector to support the sub sector.
He added that the lack of belief in Nigeria’s MSMEs was responsible for the importation of most goods and services.
“As we speak, we have over 20 million units of MSMEs that are not doing well and that are not encouraged.
“There are those that are not patronised, that we do not believe in, that we do not use, that we do not even want to use.
“We need to collaborate with the quality control organisations so that they can ensure that what these people are turning out can meet international standards.
“We need to couple the enhancement of access to finance with business development support and collaborate on development of financial services.
“If we can attend to these six areas, our MSMEs will grow and we will be able to put them on a good step,” he said.