By Abdulateef Bamgbose
Governor Dikko Umaru Radda has revealed the plan by the Katsina State Government to establish a Ministry for Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, MSMEs, in the State civil service.
Radda, made this known in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed, on Tuesday.
The Governor, in the statement to commemorate the ‘2023 World Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Day’, asserted that SMEs play a vital role in the economic growth of any nation.
Celebrated on the 27th of June every year, the MSME Day is aimed at honouring SMEs’ role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
According to Dikko Radda, the Nigeria economy would have since gone comatose if not for the efforts of thousands of SMEs in the country.
Even though the enabling environment for several MSMEs to thrive in the country is absent, the Katsina State Chief Executive, argued that many small business ventures have been helping to create massive jobs, while also tackling youth unemployment, in recent years.
He said: “Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for up to 90% of businesses, 60% to 70% of employment, and they account for half of global GDP, according to the United Nations (UN).
“That is why I am of the conviction that the theme of this year’s celebration, which is “Building a Stronger Future Together” is apt. The contribution of MSMEs are invaluable. They have boosted the growth of many world economies.
“Here in Nigeria, the feats performed by many SMEs cannot be enumerated. But that is not to say that everything is now Uhuru for many small business enterprises in the country. They still need government support in many ways, even though the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency, SMEDAN, has been coming to their aid”.
Governor Radda, who explained that having a Ministry of MSMEs in Katsina is one sure way to help nurture, grow and ensure the survival of businesses with little capital in the state, assured that the proposed Ministry will be given maximum support to actualize its intended objectives.
“The MSMEs Ministry we are planning to establish will be under my personal watch. I will ensure it gets the necessary supervision it needs, administratively.
“The template I used in repositioning SMEDAN, between 2016 and 2022, when I was the Agency’s Director General, will be adopted for our proposed Ministry. I still recall, with fond nostalgia, how our team in SMEDAN unveiled and implemented several reform policies that aided the growth of Nigerian SMEs,” he said.
