The National Council on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has constituted a committee to interface with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enhance financing of small businesses in Nigeria.

The committee was set up on Tuesday during the first meeting council for 2025 held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The committee headed by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, 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 chief executive officers of the Bank of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Bank of Agriculture (BOI) and the Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM Bank).

Also on the committee are the CEOs of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and the representative of organised private sector.

In the same vein, the council also approved a loan scheme for MSMEs known as the syndicated de-risked loans for small businesses.

The 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.

Vice President Kashim Shettima said the federal government, in collaboration with other stakeholders, would be more deliberate in ensuring growth in MSMEs space.

Mr Shettima noted that the federal government, through its agencies and partners, has the moral burden of supporting growth in the MSME space and facilitating job creation across different sectors for Nigerians.

The vice president stressed the need for stakeholders, especially the private sector, to complement President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s efforts to support small businesses.

Mr Shettima advised state governments to set up vehicles that were 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,” Mr Shettima said.

Earlier, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs, Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, presented the “syndicated de-risked loans” scheme for small businesses.

Mr Adekunle-Johnson, who sought the cooperation of members, described it as a game-changing programme to provide affordable and available loans for businesses.

He said the initiative was 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 director general of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, said the agency was proposing an initiative which was borne from a three-day MSMEs 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 about 40 million small businesses across eight distinct sectors.

(NAN)