SMEDAN Presents New National Policy On MSMEs

 
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has made a public presentation of the new national policy on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in an interactive session with stakeholders.
The director general SMEDAN, Bature Umar Masari in his address ‎at the function which took place in Kaduna noted
that the National Policy on MSMEs was development by the Agency with technical and financial support from the African Institute of Applied Economics (AIAE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) respectively in 2007.
He also disclosed that the policy got the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and subsequently launched in the same year.
The DG further disclosed that the implementation of the policy commenced almost immediately with the inauguration of the National Consultative Committee (NCC) in the same year, carring along state governments through the establishment and activities of State Consultative Committees (SCCs).
Lamenting however, he said, “despite all the successes recorded, I am pained to state that the implementation of the policy had been constrained by several challenges, such as weak stakeholders buy-in (public and private sector institutions), lack of strong commitment to MSME development by all tiers of governmeny, weak institutional synergy, ineffective funding of MSMES developmen‎t process and weak capacity among operators.”
‎He also informed the stakeholders that haven implemented the policy for about seven years, it needed to be updated and reviewed to ensure that it reflects unfolding economic and social imperatives affecting MSMEs in Nigeria and to ensure that the policy is alligned with international best practices in MSMEs development.
“At the end of the review process, the Policy was presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the 13th May, 2015 for approval. I am pleased to inform you that after due consideration, the reviewed National Policy ‎on MSMEs was approved by the FEC on the same day.
“In order to have a body for the effective driving and monitoring of the implementation process of the policy, the creation of the National Council on MSMEs has been brought in to take over the functions of the NCC” he further disclosed.
The objective primarily of the ‎policy the director general said is to facilitate and sustain a vibrant MSMEs sub-sector that will be the major driver of national economic growth and development including job creation.

Source: Leadership.ng