The Minister of State for Industry, Trade, and Investment, Mariam Katagum, has emphasized the ministry’s commitment to promoting programs that would spur economic expansion and development, particularly for the nation’s Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs).
She made this statement on Tuesday in Lagos at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) second visibility and awareness event, which was intended to highlight the milestones and successes in enhancing the ability of local MSMEs/manufacturers to produce high-quality Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and healthcare-related products.
Since the project’s launch, 162 MSMEs have benefited from and continue to benefit from the technical assistance and training given by four partner UN agencies and UNIDO.
According to Katagum, who was represented by the Director of Industrial Development at the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adewale Bakare, MSMEs are the backbone of any expanding economy.
Due to the extensive work that has gone into empowering MSMEs in the production of high-quality PPEs in accordance with international best practices, she claimed that the implementation of this project has contributed to boosting the economy and opening Nigeria’s healthcare-related products to the global market.
Regional Director, UNIDO, Jean Bakole, said the objective of the programme was to support MSMEs to remain in business during the COVID-19 situation. It also ensures that the MSMEs are engaged to sustain the local content.
Bakole said: “Based on what we saw during the period, we need to engage our MSMEs to produce and to ensure that production is quality, which can help face the health issue we were facing at that time.
“We are also contributing to the resilience of the MSMEs in the country because as you may know the MSMEs constitute the big pillar from which any economy can start. I thank the government of Nigeria for accepting to support this project,” he said.
Head of Cooperation, European Union Delegation to Nigeria, Miss Cecile Tassin-Pelzer, said this project is a key component of the European Union support to Nigeria for COVID-19 through the European Union basket fund.
She said the EU has raised 50 million euros through the basket fund to complement the ongoing government efforts of the national funding response plan.
It has allowed the mobilization of essential commodities as well as ramping up laboratory capacity in a short time to respond to the burden. In this context, Nigeria realized that 73 per cent of businesses lay off staff due to COVID-19. So additional funds were mobilized to take on the socio-economy aspect of the project.
