Nation
SMEDAN Restates Commitment To Lift 100m Nigerians Out Of Poverty
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has restated its commitment in line with the agenda of the present administration of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
The Director-General of SMEDAN, Dr Dikko Radda, restated the agency’s commitment at a two-day capacity building for its newly employed staff of the North West zone yesterday in Kaduna.
Radda said that the capacity building for the newly employed staff was part of the activities of the agency geared toward imparting knowledge into the new recruits.
He said that the agency had started implementing a lot of programmes, which were aimed at fulfilling the promises of the present administration on lifting 100 Nigerians out of poverty.
“We have impacted positively a significant number of MSMEs in the country under different programmes, which included the Conditional Grant Scheme, which over 10,000 Nigerians benefited from it last year.
“Also under the National Business Skills Development Initiatives, over 3,000 people benefited, and the All Up programme which was a direct and indirect job programme, we created over 3, 000 jobs,” Radda said.
He said the importance of capacity building of staff both internally and newly employed, noting that it would avail them the knowledge of entrepreneurship and equip them with skills on how to train MSMEs.
“The capacity building will also avail them the knowledge of how to handle, monitor, counsel and guiding MSMEs, without those skills and knowledge, one is not fit to be a SMEDAN staff.
“On this basis, we brought them together at different geo-political zones and Abuja simultaneously so as to build their capacity and step the entrepreneurship modules so they can impact positively to the Nigerian MSMEs, which will in turn improve Nigeria’s economy,” Radda said.
He urged the newly employed staff to be dedicated to their duties and focus on the subject matter on MSMEs and build confidence on themselves to in turn be able to impact on MSMEs for individuals and Nigeria’s economic prosperity.
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Dr. Nwagor gave the commendation on Tuesday during a monitoring tour of selected secondary schools in Port Harcourt and environs where the WAEC exam is ongoing.
The commissioner, who was accompanied by directors and monitors from the Ministry of Education, said he was impressed with the peaceful atmosphere at the centres visited.
“The students conducted themselves properly and wrote their papers under conducive conditions. Invigilators and supervisors also performed their duties professionally,” he stated.
Nwagor noted that the Rivers State Government had invested heavily to ensure the smooth and credible conduct of the examination across the state
He urged candidates to reciprocate government’s effort by shunning all forms of examination malpractice and focusing on their studies.
“Government has done so much to ensure successful examinations in our schools. Students should take advantage of it by remaining focused,” the commissioner said.
While no case of malpractice was recorded in the centres inspected, Dr. Nwagor warned that any principal, teacher, invigilator, or official caught aiding malpractice would face strict sanctions in line with regulations.
He also commended school administrators, teachers, WAEC officials, and security personnel for upholding the integrity of the process.
Centres visited included County Grammar School, Ikwerre/Etche; Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Borokiri; Government Secondary School, Borokiri; and Pabod Model Secondary School.