Barbara Bako, Abuja.
The Federal Government has referred to the Development Bank of Nigeria’s (DBN) accomplishments in financing Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) as extensive.
The Vice President, Kashim Shettima gave the commendation on Wednesday at the DBN 5th annual lecture with the theme: “Surviving To Thrive: MSMEs As The Key To Unlocking Inclusive Growth in Africa” held in Abuja.
The VP who was Represented by the Special Adviser to the president on Economic Matters, Mr Tope Fasua, revealed that the DBN has so far provided over 757 billion naira in loans to over 500,000 MSMEs across Nigeria.
Shettima explained that the funding has created jobs, boosted economic activity, and helped to reduce poverty.
According to him, these achievements align with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s eight priority areas of ending poverty, achieving food security, economic growth and job creation, access to capital across all segments of society and the economy, inclusivity, security, fairness and rule of law and corruption.
speaking specifically, he said, “some of the these administration’s achievements, especially as they relate to empowering MSMEs include, number one, the signing of two foreign direct investment deals worth over half a billion dollars, launch of the Compressed National Gas (CMG) initiative, distribution of 1 million conversion kits to commercial vehicles, creation of the consumer credit corporation with over N200 billion, securing $620 million under the digital and creative enterprise IDAs program, introduction of the skill of artisans program.
“I think that’s about the ITF launch of the Nigerian Youth Academy (NYA) initiation gof the Nigerian Youth Talent Export Program (NYTEP) Financial support of over N570 billion to the 36 states, construction of 10 MSME hubs, creating 440,000 jobs, payment of N1 billion each to large manufacturers the sign of the national minimum wage law, raising minimum wage to N70,000 per month, removal of tariffs and import duties on essential food items and medical supplies, distribution of fertilizers, administration of the project to cultivate over 10 million hectares of land, increase food production and job creation through agricultural incentives,” he stated.
“These initiatives will help to boost our capacities of MSMEs, while creating jobs and opportunities for all Nigerians. I’m confident that the deliberations that the Development Bank of Nigeria’s fifth annual lecture series will contribute immensely to empowering Nigeria MSMEs in a challenging global landscape”, he added.
The Managing Director/CEO of the Bank, Dr. Tony Okpanachi stated in his opening remarks that said as Nigeria’s primary development financial institution, DBN recognized that the current global economic climate presents a formidable challenge to MSMEs, particularly in Nigeria where rising production costs, inflation, unstable exchange rates, and disruptions in the global supply chain affect output.
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According to Dr. Okpanachi, DBN is a wholesale development finance institution established to address the major financing challenges facing Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
“Our objective is to alleviate financing constraints faced by MSMEs and small Corporations in Nigeria through the provision of financing and partial credit guarantees to eligible financial intermediaries on a market-conforming and fully financially sustainable basis.
“We have dedicated ourselves to achieving this objective through several initiatives, one of which is the DBN Annual Lecture, which kicked off in 2019 with the theme “Surviving To Thrive: MSMEs As The Key To Unlocking Inclusive Growth in Africa”.
“We paused in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but came back strong in 2021 as a direct response to the challenges caused by the pandemic with the second edition themed “Resilient Innovation: MSMEs’ Adaptability in Uncertain Times”. In 2022, the late Dr Herbert Wigwe, Former CEO, of Access Holdings (May his soul rest in eternal peace) spoke on the theme:
“MSMEs: Thriving In The Face of Domestic and Global Disruptions” and the last edition in 2023 was on “A Digital Nigeria: Leveraging Technology To Improve Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs in Nigeria”.
This year’s annual lecture was delivered by Dr Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, GMD/CEO, Fidelity Bank Plc and was discussed further by some distinguished panelists.
