ABUJA—In line with the Federal Government’s desire to diversify the economy, the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, has projected growth for Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, MSMEs.

The Director General of SMEDAN, Dr. Umaru Radda, made the projection at the inaugural International MSME Expedition, IME, programme, Tinapa 2016, in Calabar, Cross River State.

The DG, who was represented by Director, Engineering, Technology & Innovation, Engr. David Ozigi, expressed optimism that the environment for MSMEs would be favourable based on the National MSMEs Policy the agency had mapped out to ensure they thrive rapidly and contribute enormously to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of the country.

Radda said: “The policy, spanning 2013-2025 is targeted at creating a favourable environment for MSMEs to blossom and contribute effectively to national economic growth and development. It is slated for review every four years.

“The policy aims to provide the comprehensive framework for developing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria. The policy will also ensure a close coordination between entrepreneurship development and sector-based policies such as the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.”

However, the SMEDAN boss listed the challenges of MSMEs to include aversion to joint ownership, family ties, financial mismanagement, lack of basic business capacity, non-recruitment of qualified personnel among others.

He said: “It will justifiable to infer that developing MSMEs in Nigeria should not be limited to think-tanking but more of trench-digging, because the obvious need at the moment will be to go beyond intellectualism and embrace practical solutions.”

Meanwhile, he said the Federal Government has started serious work on coordinating the activities of MSMEs, but urged the state governments to inaugurate their councils, and acknowledged the challenge of access to fund by the operators, which he said the MSME policy intends to address.