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Relief for Nigerian MSMEs as FG launches Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) to support informal sector



Oredola Adeola |

Relief seems to have come the way of Micro, Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs in Nigeria as the Federal Government through the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has put up measure to enhance the competitiveness of players in the informal sector by providing accessible funds for their operations.

Dr.Umaru-Radda, SMEDAN

 Dr Dikko Umaru-Radda, Director General of SMEDAN officially kicked off the agency’s Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) in Bauchi State on Saturday, being part of efforts to enhance the competitiveness of the operators towards meeting national, regional and global standard.

Recall that the SMEDAN in February inaugurated the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) championed with the support of Federal Government in Lagos State, while the pilot phase of the project was conducted in 2017 in Katsina State where 34 Local Government Areas (LGAs) were involved, Gombe (11 LGAs), Ebonyi (13 LGAs), Oyo (33 LGAs), Akwa Ibom (31 LGAs) and Benue (23 LGAs), making a total of 145 LGAs.
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Meanwhile, the agency has revealed plan to extend the scheme to other states of the country subject to availability of project funds. SMEDAN said the scheme is scheduled to run in three states which are Lagos, Bauchi and Sokoto States.

Dr. Umaru-Radda at the flag-off ceremony of the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) in Bauchi, disclosed that there are about 1,800 persons selected from the 20 local government areas of the state are expected to benefit from the scheme in the state.

The SMEDAN boss in Bauchi, disclosed that the micro enterprises sector being informal and run by people at the bottom of the pyramid, prompted SMEDAN to conceptualise a flagship programme of Conditional Grant Scheme for micro enterprises.

He said, “The justification for a special entrepreneurship/Vocational development intervention for the entrepreneurs at the bottom at the pyramid cannot be over emphasised based on the need to graduate informal enterprises to the formal sector, industrialised the nation, develop the rural economy, stem youth restiveness and unemployment and create the platform for sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria.

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Speaking in respect of  a survey conducted by the National MSMEs conducted between 2010 and 2013, Dr. Umaru-Radda said 37 million MSME engaged 59.7 million persons, which is 84.2 per cent of labour force, contributing to 7.27 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to him, 90 per cent of the micro enterprises are informal and populated by people at the bottom of the pyramid, hence the introduction of Condition Grant Scheme (CGS) for micro enterprises in Nigeria.

He noted that the scheme would help people in the micro enterprises sub sector which he said provides employment more than the other sub sectors of the economy.

Umaru-Radda said, “This present initiative (Conditional Grant Scheme) looks to promoting the activities of micro enterprises across the country in the areas of capacity building and the delivery of post-intervention support services such as access to finance (conditional grants), markets, workspace, technology, among others.”

He further emphasis on the need for a special entrepreneurship/vocational development intervention for the entrepreneurs at the bottom of the pyramid, in view of the need to graduate the operators from the informal to the formal sector, industrialise the nation, develop the rural economy, stem youth restiveness and unemployment and create the platform for sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria.

It is however evident that the strategy of the scheme by the Federal Government is meant to ease the performance tension of the SMEs in the country , some of which includes poor access to finance, inadequate managerial skills, poor accounting practice, poor infrastructure, policy somersault, multiple taxes, environmental factors, and marketing problems, among others.

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