Nigeria launches national policy on MSME

Abuja, Nigeria | July 01, 2007 by D-8 Secretariat

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (Smedan), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), just launched the National Policy for Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The event which is coming two months after the approval of the policy on May 9, 2007, by the Federal Executive Council (Fec)  is considered  one of the pioneer achievements of Smedan.

D-8 Secretariat welcomes this effort since more than forty years after independence, Nigeria never had a well-articulated and widely-accepted policy document that would guide the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). All attempts at entrepreneurial development by public and private sector operators were made in ad-hoc and hap-hazard manner due to absence of a road map. There was lack of coordinating Agency of the federal government such as the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (Smedan) to provide leadership in developmental initiatives.

The national policy addresses the issue of definition of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which has been highly contentious and yet very necessary for development planning and intervention measures. The Policy also addresses such other issues as: broad strategy for MSME development and Key Policy and Programme Areas.

The key programme areas include: institutional, legal and regulatory framework concerning business registration, land/property rights and land use planning, contract enforcement and dispute resolution and then tax administration; the second programme area is technology, research and development; the third programme area is extension and support services; Others are marketing, infrastructure and finance.

The policy also identified Special Target Enterprises (STE) for quick-win attention. These enterprises are in the following categories: micro food processing; cottage arts and crafts; textiles and clothing; wood processing and furniture; leather and leather products; basic metal, metal fabrication and engineering; solid minerals; electronic and Information technology; building and construction related enterprises; oil and gas related goods and services; entertainment enterprises; women-owned enterprises; youth-owned  enterprises; special enterprises for physically challenged people, including people living with HIV-AIDS.

D-8 Secretariat is very keen to encourage that Nigeria as member state of D-8 joins actively in D-8 Working Group on Microfinance and D-8 Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Last year for Microfinance the meeting was in Jakarta, Indonesia, and for developing data and indicators of MSME was conducted in May 2007 in Islamabad,  Pakistan.

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