The Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN ), Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda has called for the creation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development bank.
He said the development bank would address the paucity of funds confronting them in the country.
He stated this on Thursday during the MSMEs Day celebration in Birnin-Kebbi, titled “Big Money for Small Business: Financing the SDGs”.
He added that if the bank was established, it would contribute to the rapid growth needed by the MSMEs.
The SMEDAN DG, who was represented by Kebbi State Manager of the Agency, Mr. Abdulkarim Ibrahim said; ” As part of her advocacy mandate, the agency is emphasising the need for the establishment of a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development Bank to address the fundamental funding challenge confronting MSMEs in Nigeria.
He added that based on (NBS) survey, MSMEs had employed a total number of 59.7 million persons in Nigeria as far back as 2013, which represented 84.02 per cent, contributing 48.47 per cent to GDP and contributed 7.27 per cent to export.
“A MSMEs Development Back is a robust and one -stop development financial institution mandated to nurture and meet the funding and business growth needs of MSMEs.” he said.