Unemployment and poverty are the
two biggest menaces plaguing our great country, Nigeria today; their negative
effects on this potentially great country have manifested in various forms and
impacts such as that of despondency, loss of dignity, hunger, malnutrition, high
mortality rate, homelessness, family disintegration, disease, immorality,
criminality and the insecurity that pervades our landscape today.
The most recent negative impact
of these twin evils is the recent terror unleashed on our innocent citizens and
a serious threat to the fabric that holds us as a nation by insurgent groups. Without
much argument, it is evident that the twin evils of unemployment and poverty
cannot be subtracted as a major cause of the effect of insecurity that has held
us all under attack. No wonder, Collins Powell posited that “the war on terror
is bounded in with the war on poverty”, which is a fact that cannot be
overlooked.
Even though it is needless to
restate the statistics of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria, because it is
evident and palpable for any conscious person to see or hear, I would give out
a popular few to highlight the problems for emphasis sake. According to the
Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS, 2013), the national unemployment rate is
23.9 percent with the youth accounting for more than 70 percent. While as for
poverty, sixty seven percent (67%) of the entire population in Nigeria
live below the poverty line, which represent about 112 million people (National
Bureau of Statistics, 2011).
It is in checkmating these twin menaces that governments over
the years have set-up various intervention agencies; one of such agency is the
Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) under the
Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. With the duty of building
and strengthening the capacity of small and medium business enterprises to create
wealth, generate jobs, reduce poverty to the barest minimum and boost economic
growth in Nigeria. It is on this platform that the indefatigable Alhaji Bature
Umar Masari was made the Director General; in which case was an expression of the
former administration’s readiness, under the leadership of President Goodluck
Jonathan, to combat the scourge to a standstill.
With the hindsight of both his antecedents; there is no doubt
that he whom the cap fits has worn it, because for the period he has piloted
the affairs of this agency, his sterling leadership qualities and dedication to
service has repositioned the agency towards greater effectiveness and
innovation in terms of both policy formulation and programme implementation.
Beyond statistics, many have testified to the transformation, the agency under
the leadership of the Director General has brought to the lives of especially
the youth and women business owners in Nigeria.
No wonder, it did not come as a surprise to many of us when
he was rightly honored with the award of the Most Active Director General 2013,
by National Development
Forum, Publishers of African Development Magazine, for championing the
National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) with the ambitious but
realizable target of creating between 3-5million jobs by 2015. It is our firm
belief that honor has been given to who it is due, especially because the
successes so far recorded is evident, even though the humble nature of the
Director General would not allow him to engage in self-praise or propaganda. It
is in that spirit that he refused to take glory for the successes so far, with
signs of greater things to come, but credits it to his hardworking and
dedicated staff at the agency.
The programmes being executed
under his watch have gone beyond rhetoric to reality, they include; National
Enterprises Development Programme (NEDEP), University Entrepreneurship
Development programme (UNEDEP), Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) now renamed
Entrepreneurial Action Us [ENACTUS], One Local Government One Product (OLOP), registration of cooperatives, just to
mention a few. In ensuring the success of these noble initiatives of the
government as implemented by SMEDAN, the Director General as observed by many like
myself has adopted a collaborative approach with both the public and private
sectors in building and strengthening the capacity of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprise in Nigeria.
His all hands must be on deck
approach, has endeared him to sister agencies and financial institutions such as
the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Bank of Industries (BOI), Bank of
Agriculture (BOI) amongst many. This has won him admiration even by his
critics, who are bent on seeing the cup half empty rather than half full. His
selfless drive, through the instrumentality of the partnerships he enjoys, in
the promotion of entrepreneurship education and development in the 774 local
governments, in order to enhance an atmosphere and entrench the culture of
entrepreneurship is presently unequalled and worth being encouraged. It is in
that light, that he has opened wide the doors of the Industrial Development
Centers (IDC) to as many agencies and organizations to take advantage of, which
are now to also serve as MSME parks, for the purpose of being business hubs for
aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to take advantage of.
This is critical because outside
of agriculture; the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is the highest
employer of labor, it contributes 75% of the national
employment. So any growth in the sector, as being championed by the Director
General, has a monumental impact both directly or indirectly on job creation,
poverty reduction and the overall economy of the country. Presently, it is
estimated that there exist 17.2 million MSMEs in Nigeria; of which if the
target of NEDEP in creating 5million is achieved by 2015, then the number would
rise to 22.2million MSMEs, which would automatically increase job creation and
the GDP of the country. It is this prospects that should motivate all
stakeholders to complement, support and sustain the giant strides so far
achieved by SMEDAN under the remarkable leadership of Alhaji Bature Umar
Masari.
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