The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) in partnership with the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Global Center for Human Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Development (GLOCHEED), a Civil Society Organization, organized a strategic dialogue with various stakeholders in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to identify bottlenecks around accessing Federal Government’s interventions to MSMEs.
Speaking at the occasion, the Director General, BPSR, Mr. D.I Arabi expressed profound gratitude to the FCTA authorities and the DG, GLOCHEED, Mrs. Rose Gyar for their visionary support to make the event a reality. He said the event was quite timely especially as a response to the recent EndSARS protests borne out of social disorders such as: Youth restiveness, frequent crimes and vandalisms resulting from unemployment and youth idleness.
Arabi referred to the Vienna-based World data agency which rated Nigeria’s poverty index with 86.9 million Nigerians living below $ 1.90. This, he said was gruesomely worrisome and that we urgently needed to proffer lasting solution to it. According to him, the Federal government had further taken steps to reaffirm its commitment to creating more job opportunities through the various intervention programmes specially designed to grow the Micro, Small and Medium, Enterprises.
The inadequacies and shortfalls that Nigeria experienced over the last few years and the covid-19 pandemic had affected Nigeria and the world economy unprecedentally, he said. “These factors have made it imperative to call for synergy among relevant actors to contribute meaningfully so as to break the vicious circle of poverty”.
He, however, lamented that successive administrations in Nigeria have over the years introduced various intervention programmes to create jobs, reduce poverty level and empower the citizens economically but bureaucratic tendencies have blocked the people from accessing those policies. These vices include: lack of awareness, lack of structured mechanism for engagement, weak information dissemination channels e.t.c.
The robust contributions of other stakeholders also gave the seminar a broader view with vital economic models propounded and credence given to the Executive Order 001 ease of doing business. Mrs. Gyar, DG, GLOCHEED said she was elated to have the platform with the Bureau in discussing the issue. She advocated government support for women and people with physical disabilities so as to make them have access to the grants and be economically viable.
A former Presidential candidate and Economist, Mr. Tope Fasua also gave an illustration of the advantages of the government interventions and the need for youth to buy-in into the opportunities given them. He encouraged the young citizens to cash-in on the 75 Billion naira National Youth Investment Fund set aside by the Federal Government mainly for entrepreneurial development. Interventions such as the Market moni, trader moni, Farmers’ moni are part of the laudable interventions by the Federal Government, he said.
Mr. Arabi in his closing remarks thanked all participants and partners and used the opportunity to inform that all the resolutions reached will form the recommendations which will be presented to the SGF for presidential ratifications.