The Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adebayo, said that the federal government had disbursed about N785 billion to over 10 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises owners in Nigeria.
The Minister, who stated this in Bauchi on Thursday at the end of the 14th meeting of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment, said this was done through the Bank of Industry (BOI) from 2019 to July, 2022.
According to him, the move was made possible because the Bank Of Industry had further deepened its capital base to $5 billion with international partners like the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK) and Credit Suisse, among others.
"We have revised the MSME Policy to drive the growth and competitiveness of MSMEs in the country and successfully increased the nation’s capacity to fund tech-driven MSMEs.
"This was done through our collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to secure the $500 million Technology Fund.
"Furthermore, the MSME Survival Fund Initiative was launched in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan, which protected MSMEs from the shock of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
"As of July 2022, N67.5 billion had been disbursed to over 1.2 million beneficiaries, thus protecting at-risk jobs and creating new ones," he said.
He also said that in order to further create an enabling business environment to attract and retain investment, the ministry and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council were committed to ensure they didn't just attract but also protect investments that genuinely benefit Nigeria and its citizens.
Adebayo further stated that based on this, the country had successfully revised its model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) to include a specific provision for investment facilitation that institutionalised the principle of supporting investors to actualise their investments.
"Our initiatives and successes are too numerous to mention at this forum, but there is still a lot of ground to cover.
"The nation is looking to us to solve big problems such as the unemployment of almost 30 million people who are mostly youth.
"Given the size of our challenges as a nation, we must design interventions to address the scale of the problems we need to solve. This will ensure we come up with creative and innovative ways to finance, implement and ultimately deliver transformative results," said the Minister.
Also, Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, said his administration had been initiating and implementing policies with the objectives of moving the economy of the state along the trajectory of the nation's overall development aspirations.
He added that those policies were also in tandem with President Muhammadu Buhari's aspiration to make sure that poverty was fought to the last level.
"I want to acknowledge the contribution of one of our own, Hajiya Mariam Katagum who represents us at the Federal Executive Council along with our brother, the Minister for Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.
"We are in the opposition but we have no regret that we have them as our representatives. They have really brought representation to the level of competence that I am proud of.
"I must thank Mr President for allowing them to always contribute. Bauchi state is a state of Buhari and Buhari is Bauchi state and that's why even as a governor in the opposition I know the position of Mr President," he said.
Highlights of the occasion was the exhibition of made in Nigeria products by agencies under the ministry, among which were; a Nigerian assembled electric car, fabricated electric cables, tiles, and others.
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