Jonathan says MSMEs’ council to build economy that works for Nigerians

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday inaugurated the National Council on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), stating that its creation is aimed at building an economy that works for all Nigerians.

The council is chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

He said the inauguration of the council is focused on creating a turning point in the national economic development drive of his administration with regards to making MSMEs the core elements of economic transformation.

“The creation of this council is a testament to the commitment of this administration to all inclusive economic growth.

“Our commitment is to meet the aspirations of our people and in doing so ensuring rapid economic development, benefiting all our citizens, north, south, east or west.

“Our focus will remain to build an economy that works for all Nigerians, and the MSME council that we are to inaugurate today is essential to achieving this goal.

“The growth of MSMEs is one that is very important in any nation that aspires towards self-sufficiency. MSMEs are the innovators, the wealth creators as well as the employment generators.

“Every MSME today has the potential of growing to the large corporation of tomorrow and that is why we are now backing the initiative with the creation of this council”, the president said.

He noted that over the past few years, the country had demonstrated its determination to become a world economic leader, by achieving a reasonable level of macro-economic stability even in the face of global economic recession.

President Jonathan harped on the need for critical economic issues of inclusion and wealth distribution to be urgently addressed as the country builds a strong economy which will attract unprecedented investments.

“I repeat, we must ensure that this economy works for all of our people; that we indeed become a land of opportunities for all and a land where hopes become reality regardless of who you are, where you hail from or whatever belief you share.

“This our land must be where our youths have jobs and our people can take their economic destinies in their own hands.

“It must be a land where poverty is eradicated and our people can live in dignity.

“This is the Nigeria we all must work to make possible and the MSME council has a great role to play to make this a reality”, he said.
He added that with the inauguration of the council, his administration is making the MSME the integral part of national policy by making sure that all the 774 local government areas in the country are covered.

The president also said the appointment of the vice president as the chairman of the council underlined the importance placed on small business development on the economy at large.

He urged the council to urgently develop a detailed financial value chain intervention strategy for the MSMEs to remove all the barriers in their strive to access finance.