FG To Facilitate Single Digit Loans For MSMEs

ABUJA – The Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, has constituted a Presidential Commit­tee to disburse single digit loan fa­cility to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.

Vice President Kashim Shetti­ma disclosed the information on Tuesday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, saying it’s a deliberate move to facilitate growth of MSMEs in the country.

The committee is headed by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Sen. John Enoh, has Ministers of Science and Technology; Women Affairs; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs as members.

Others include the CEOs of Bank of Industry, Small and Me­dium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Bank of Agriculture (BoI), Nige­ria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank), Development Bank of Ni­geria (DBN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Investment Promotion Commis­sion (NIPC), Nigerian Export Pro­motion Council (NEPC), and the representative of NACCIMA and the organised private sector.

To this end, the National Coun­cil on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which is the steering committee will interface with the Central Bank of Nigeria to distribute the loans to benefi­ciaries.

According to the vice president, it behooves the Federal Govern­ment, through its agencies and partners, to support growth in the MSME space and facilitate job creation across different sectors for Nigerians.

Reeling out the mandate of the committee, Shettima said the efforts of the administration of President Bola Tinubu in sup­porting small businesses, evident in important policies and pro­grammes, need to be complement­ed by stakeholders, especially the private sector.

“The loan scheme will be a partnership between state gov­ernments and financial institu­tions aimed at enhancing access to finance for MSMEs at single-digit rates across the country,” the VP emphasised.

He advised state governments to set up mechanisms that are devoid of political interests to drive the implementation of the syndicated de-risked loans for the MSMEs scheme.

“Some of these initiatives are laudable and will need to outlive the present administrations in the states. Regardless of political affil­iations, Nigerians must be seen to be the ultimate beneficiaries of these schemes that we are trying to put in place,” the VP stated.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs, Mr. Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, pre­sented the ‘syndicated de-risked loans’ scheme for small business­es, seeking the cooperation of members and describing it as a game-changing programme to provide affordable and available loans for businesses.

Temitola described the initia­tive is in acknowledgement of the president’s passion and commit­ment to the development of small businesses and aimed at providing more jobs for Nigerians.

In his presentation on the state of MSMEs in Nigeria, the DG SMEDAN, Mr Charles Odii, said the agency was proposing an initiative which was borne from a 3-day MSME conference held in 2024.

He said the initiative known as the GROW Nigeria strategy is to provide guidance, resources, opportunities, and the workforce to support the about 40 million small businesses across 8 distinct sectors.