By Edwin Ekene Uhara
\nOn Monday August 18 2014, President Good luck Jonathan launched the N220
\nbillion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) in
\nAbuja.
\nThe MSMED Fund is an intervention programme introduced by the Jonathanadministration to uproot abject poverty from the land; thereby creating
\njobs as well as empowering Nigerians with the needed skills and finance to
\nturn their ideas to wealth creation.
\nHowever, it is worthy of note that access to finance as well as inadequate
\nskills are among the challenges confronting Nigeria before now. May I also
\nadd that our tertiary institutions are also contributing to some of the
\neconomic woes facing the nation because there lay much and unnecessary
\nemphasis on theories more than practical. There prefer garbage-in
\ngarbage-out system of education to creative and innovative thinking
\nsystem. There teach economic and political theories that only exist in
\ntextbooks and not in the real world. There teach students how to look for
\njob and not how to create jobs. This is why there churn out graduates that
\nlacks relevant skills needed for national development. So, this is what
\nthe Jonathan Government is hell-bent on correcting.
\nHe has done so by increasing the budgetary allocations to the nationeducation sector. He has done so by revamping our air ports and rail
\nsystem. He has done so by introducing and implementing friendly economic
\npolicies that are attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). He has done
\nso by investing heavily in infrastructure. He has done so by establishing
\nthe Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). Now, he has
\nlaunched the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development
\nFund to make resources available to entrepreneurs in the country.
\nAccording to reports, the new Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele
\nwas quoted as saying \u0153It is imperative that this segment of the
\nfinancial system be strengthened in order to forestall the inevitable
\nadverse socio-economic consequences of financial exclusion\u00a6 The linkage
\nbetween finance and economic development has been well documented.Access to finance has a significant multiplier effect on the economy
\nbecause of its catalytic effect on job creation. It is in realization of
\nthis that the (CBN) launched the N220 billion MSME Development Fund to
\nprovide financial resources to the entrepreneurs across the country
\nthrough Participating Financial Institutions (PFI\u2122s).
\nThe CBN boss also added that 6o enterprising graduates had been invited to
\nthe programme to be trained and mentored on how to identify business
\nopportunities and source for fund. This is however a commendable
\ninitiative by our president.
\nThe report also noted that \u0153The participating deposit money banks will
\nbe mandated to obtain biometric information of borrowers through a data
\nbase already created by the CBN to ensure that funds get to genuine
\nborrowers as well as discourage multiple access. Also the apex bank will
\nset up strict monitoring facility to ensure that the money not only gets
\nto the targets, but also used for viable growth.
\nUnder this programme, qualified individuals would be able to access
\nbetween N50, 000 and N100, 000. While state governments are entitled to
\napply for N2 billion. In the same vein, two percent of the fund would be
\nset aside for economically active, but physically challenged or disabled
\npersons in the country. Also, intending beneficiaries would be mandated to
\njoin a cooperative society to facilitate or increase their chances.
\nThe CBN boss also noted that some billions had so far been disbursed to
\n313 projects under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS) as at
\nJuly 2014.
\nWhile launching the fund, President Good luck Jonathan said \u0153All over
\nthe world, the contribution of MSME to GDP is on the average of about 47
\npercent\u00a6 with about 17.3 million MSME\u2122s in Nigeria, there is need for
\nmore concrete and concerted efforts to expand the activities of MSMEs in
\nour country\u00a6 Given that structural transformation of the economy remains
\nour core priority, we are investing heavily in critical infrastructure to
\npromote job creation and inclusive growth.
\nAlso speaking, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr.
\nOlusengun Aganga described the CBN intervention\u00a0 as a big step in the
\ndevelopment of the MSME sector, but lamented that though SMEs sector
\naccounted for about half of GDP, only 80 percent of small businesses had
\naccess to formal financing.
\nNonetheless, it will be recalled that this writer had in one of his
\narticles entitled: \u0153The Truth about Self Employment called for a
\n\u0153triangular partnership between the government, financial
\ninstitutions and the faith based organizations in the fight against
\nunemployment and poverty in the country.
\nNonetheless, a part from the launch of the N220 billion Micro, Small and
\nMedium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF), the President had already put
\nin place economic policies that will leapfrog our economy from that of a
\ndeveloping nation to a very developed one. A good example is the
\nimplementation of the National Industrial Revolution Plan.
\nComrade Edwin Ekene Uhara is an Activist and Public Affairs Commentator.
\nHe is also a staunch supporter and defender of President Jonathan’s
\nGovernment in the media. He writes from\u00a0 Abuja.
\nReach him on 07065862479 or\u00a0edwinuhara@rocketmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Edwin Ekene Uhara On Monday August 18 2014, President Good luck Jonathan launched the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) in Abuja. The MSMED Fund…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n