5m jobs to be created under NEDEP in three years – DG

5m jobs to be created under NEDEP in three years – DG
No fewer than five million jobs would be created under the within the next three years, an official has said.
Alhaji Bature Masari, the Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, disclosed this on Wednesday at the inauguration of the programme in Kaduna.
Masari said: “The National Enterprise Development Programme, which is aimed at generating an estimated five million direct and indirect jobs between 2013 and 2015, is being implemented under three pillars.
“Namely, the Technical/Vocational Skills Acquisition, Business Development Services (BDS)/Entrepreneurship Training and Access to Finance.”
According to Masari, the BDS component of the programme would be anchored under the One Local Government One Product Programme, meant to revitalise the rural economy, by providing employment and alleviating poverty in rural areas.
He said: “Other benefits include the entrenchment of entrepreneurial culture, economic development, industrialisation of rural areas, industrial cluster development, increase MSMEs contribution to GDP, increase export potentials, crime reduction, wealth creation and political stability.”
He said the project would be achieved through the establishment of sustainable MSMEs in the 774 local government areas based on comparative and competitive advantages.
The director-general said the agency had conducted needs assessment in 22 states and was conducting baseline survey and value-chain analysis in six other states across the geopolitical zones.
He added: “At this level of the programme, cooperative societies and trade associations are being formed and registered, and assisted to develop bankable business plans as a prelude to access to finance, markets and machinery/equipment.
“Over 1,000 cooperative groups and their business plans are currently being handed over to Bank of Industry for appraisal and eventual financing, while thousands more are in the process of been finalised.”
In a message to the event, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, said the programme and others were aimed at ensuring economic growth and improvement in the lives of the people.
Aganga, who was represented by an aide, Abi Mustapha, said the government was working towards increasing access to markets for SME operators.
He urged state governments to key into the programme so as to create job opportunities and improve the economy of the country.
In his remarks, Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State, charged the state SME board to ensure the success of the programme.
Yero said it would help to move the nation forward, by enhancing the economy, reducing poverty and unemployment in the state.
The governor said 1,200 unemployed graduates would be trained on developing business plans, adding that selected beneficiaries would be empowered to set up their businesses.