Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr Dikko Umaru Radda, says Nigeria’s MSMEs contribution to export which stands at 7.27% is very low.
Radda said this at a roundtable meeting organised by the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Alumni, Abuja branch and SMEDAN held in Abuja yesterday.
“When you don’t have many MSMEs formalised, they cannot export,“Radda said, adding that out of 37 million MSMEs in Nigeria, 98% were not formalised. He said one of the tasks of the agency is to see that many of the MSMEs are formalised.
He added that under the Conditional Grant Scheme, the agency was helping to formalise 13,116 businesses out of many.
Radda said that the MSMEs clinic which was held in 16 states of the federation was geared towards bringing government closer to small businesses in the country.
The clinics were aimed at interacting with MSMEs so that they can share their challenges and solutions proffered.
The Vice President of the ABU, Zaria alumni, Abuja branch, Hassan Rilwan, said under the present leadership of the alumni chaired by the Minister of Women Affairs, Senator Jummai Aisha Alhassan, the association is geared towards building capacity of its members.
“We have a lot of young people who have left school and without jobs, so we thought that we should create a forum that can build their capacity and they will be able to start their own businesses,” he said.
