SMEDAN DG Calls For Collaboration To Grow SMEs

Director General of Small and Medium Entearprises Developmaent Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhaji Dikko Radda, has called on the National Assembly to collaborate with the agency to spur Small and Medium Enterprises.
He made the call on Monday in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the 4th edition of the Made-in-Aba Trade Fair, scheduled to take place in Abuja between March 6 and March 10, 2017.
The fair is being facilitated by Sen.  Enyinnaya Abaribe.
Radda said the micro and small enterprises had not performed well in Nigeria despite serving as engine room for economic growth.
The director general said that micro and small enterprises were vital platforms for nurturing local entrepreneurial capabilities, technical skills, technological innovations and managerial competencies.
The SMEDAN boss explained that trade facilitation like the Made-in-Aba Fair was critical to achieving growth and competitiveness of enterprises in the country.
Radda called on Abia Government to consider a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) option, to address the recurring infrastructural deficit at both leather and garment clusters.
He said that growing SMEs would contribute significantly to tackling unemployment while improving the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“In Nigeria, SMEDAN/National Bureau of Statistics survey in 2014 estimated a total of 37 million MSMES.
“These contribute to the employment of 59.7 million persons or 84.02 per cent of Nigeria labour force,” he said.
He said that while SMEs in Nigeria were currently receiving boost through annual zonal intervention funds appropriated by the National Assembly, there was room for more improvement.
The director general added that the proposed amendment to Public Procurement Act would strengthen patronage of local goods and improve local manufacturing capacity.
According to him, the Aba leather and garment now have a special attraction with over 20,000 enterprises, with inherent peer learning.
Earlier, Sen. Abaribe said the fair was being facilitated by him to boost local production of goods for increased jobs and wealth creation.
The lawmaker advised Nigerians to be patronising locally made goods to create the necessary development.