President of the Association of Small Business Owners in Nigeria, (ASBON) Dr. Femi Egbesola, said the plan by the office of the Vice President to create 1.3 million jobs will fuel start-up sector if the government implements supportive measures.
The Office of the Vice President said there were interventions geared towards ensuring the realisation of the Tinubu administration’s commitment to job creation and economic diversification with the MSMEs playing critical roles.
Egbesola stressed that if the roadmap for boosting innovation and introduction of initiatives to aid the the development of startups and SMEs were rigorously implemented, the economy will witness transformation.
He added that the sector needed supportive infrastructure in some areas which would drive economic transformation going forward.
He said: ” It is a good initiative but we need it to be done in a more transparent and collaborative way, if it is to achieve maximum impact.”
He, however, noted that in the list of partners to this programme, not a single Business Membership Organization is enlisted. He noted: ” To us this is not right. We would also expect to see the terms and conditions to apply and be beneficiaries of the intervention program to be expressly outlined in a portal that can be easily accessible by members of the business sector with a free and fair common ground. It does not also mention how monitoring and evaluation of the process before-and-after will be done.
This is also a critical step towards the success and sustainability of the process.’
He continued: ” Some of us would also wish to know the criteria used in the selection of the 17 beneficiary States.
In summary, without key and active participation of all critical stakeholders, particularly in the private sector (all collaborators mentioned in the write-up are all public sector actors), the intervention program may end up just like all others in the past, without any substantial impact in the real sector.’
In a bid to complement the federal government’s efforts to improve the economy and create more jobs, office of the Vice President said a group of partners in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) space is set to execute various MSME-focused interventions, targeting 1.3 million beneficiaries across 17 States and FCT.
