SMEDAN attributes employment growth to FG intervention with COVID-19 Loan Full Time

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) says increase in employment in the country in 2020 is due to various Federal Government intervention programmes.

The Director-General of SMEDAN, Dr Dikko Radda told newsmen in Abuja that there was consolidation in the Small and Medium Enterprises due to lot of noticeable performances.

SMEDAN and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday launched a report on 2020 national survey of NANO, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NMSMEs).

The report which showed 3.7 per cent increase in employment by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in 2020 indicated that 61, 954, 73 persons were employed against 59 million in 2017.

“This means there was a consolidation in the Small and Medium Enterprises because a lot of performances have been noticed.

“This has led to the increase in the number persons employed by the MSME’s because of the various interventions of the Federal Government which includes the COVID-19 loan.

“Others are the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank loan as a result of COVID-19, the National Sustainability Economic Plan, MSME grant among others.

The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr Simon Harry, however, said there was a decrease in the number of NMSMEs and contributions to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to Harry, the shrink in the number of NMSMEs and the decrease in contributions to GDP were due to effects of COVID-19.

He said that the reduction in the number of MSMEs in 2020 recorded 39, 654 385 establishments as against 41, 543 28 establishments in 2017.

“COVID-19 affected MSMEs tremendously in the country such that 53.2 per cent of SMEs and 37.3 per cent of medium enterprises were temporarily closed during the period.

“Major reason being the lockdown of economic activities and restriction in movement.

“Overall MSME’s contribution to GDP witnessed a decrease of 3.5 per cent in the year 2020 when compared to what was recorded in 2017.

“Also, the reason for the reduction might not be unconnected with the negative impact of COVID-19 which affected a lot of businesses in Nigeria,’’ Harry said.

Presenting more figures from the report, Harry said that the total number of SMEs as at Dec. 31, 2020 was 1, 240, 965 establishments representing 3.1 per cent.

According to him, MSMEs in Nigeria contributed 46.31 per cent to the nations GDP.

“MSMEs accounted for 96.7 per cent of businesses and 87.9 per cent of employment generation as at 2020.

“Also MSMEs accounted for 6.21 per cent of gross exports within the Nigerian economy