KUNLE SOKUNBI
Ogun State Government plans to establish Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Park as well as revise the procedures and guidelines of the State Government-Bank of Industry (OGSG-BOI) Matching Fund Scheme to better suit the needs of beneficiaries and ease the stress of financing the sector.
State Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo, dropped this hint while declaring open the second edition of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Business Clinic, organised by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, held at the Centenary Hall, Ake in Abeokuta.
Okubadejo who described MSMEs as the bedrock of any economy said that when operational, the Park would catapult the development of MSMEs and position them to make greater contributions to the economic development of the state.
According to him, “For the first time in the history of this state and the country as a whole, we are creating a MSMEs Park strictly dedicated to MSMEs alone. We are not going to allow any large company to come there, and the reason for this is to provide shared facilities like power.
“The biggest challenge of MSMEs in Nigeria, in addition to financing, access to market is lack of infrastructure. Their average cost of production is higher than it should be. By providing the Park and putting these infrastructure in place there, we are going to help them to reduce their cost of production and make them more competitive.
“We are also working with BOI as well to do counterpart matching fund scheme so that we can extend the credit to this people at low cost and with less conditions.”
The Commissioner added that to further encourage MSMEs to maximise opportunities for entrepreneurship and job creation, government would partner with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) to explore profitable ways of exporting their products.
“Related to this is the government’s encouragement to MSMEs to consider the opportunities for entrepreneurship and job creation that exist in exporting products in which the State has comparative advantage. We will be collaborating with the NEPC to engage MSMEs on how to profitably export their products according to established standards,” he added.
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Kikelomo Longe, said the Clinic was a further demonstration of the government commitment to enhance and develop activities of MSMEs, adding that the programme would be replicated in other zones in the state.
In her goodwill message, a former President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Iyalode of Yoruba land, Chief Alaba Lawson, commended the state government for its various initiatives geared towards the development of MSMEs.
She urged government to ensure that funds for beneficiaries are properly disbursed and monitored.