Trade And Investment: SMEDAN Gets Highest Vote

A review of the 2014 budget proposal for the Trade and Investment ministry has shown that the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) got the lion share in terms of capital allocation ahead of other agencies   under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
A  review of the 2014 budget proposal as obtained by LEADERSHIP  from  the Ministry of Finance  showed  that  although  the agency was  allocated a total proposed capital   budget  of N1.24billion,  the figure  was actually  a drop from the  N1.66billion it got  in the 2013 budget.
There was also a sharp drop from its total recurrent expenditure from N 959.95million in the 2013 budget to N863.44 million  in the current  budget.
The agency’s current leaning is not unconnected with the determination of the federal government  to reposition  the Small and Medium Enterprises sector of the economy  through  the  National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) which according to the initiator of the programme , the  Minister of Industry and Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, would   generate an estimated 5million jobs between 2013 and 2015.
NEDEP is being implemented under three pillars, technical/vocational skills acquisition, business development services (BDS) Entrepreneur training and access to finance and is designed to put the SMEs sector on the right footing.
The  BDS/ Entrepreneurs training components of NEDEP is  anchored under the One Local Government One Product (OLOP) programme, which the government  said  is tailored  towards  revitalising  the rural economy and alleviating  poverty in rural areas in Nigeria and would  be done through the establishment of sustainable MSMES in the 774 Local Government Areas (LGA’s) based on comparative and competitive advantages.
Already , SMEDAN  under the NEDEP/OLOP has conducted sensitisation/needs assessment programme in 22 states and is presently conducting baseline survey and value- chain analysis in six pilot states of  Lagos, Bayelsa, Anambra, Kano Benue, and Bauchi.
Also it has handed over to  the Bank  of Industry (BOI) about 1000 co-operative groups and their business plans for appraisal and funding.

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