SMEDAN to Upgrade 23 Industrial Devt Centres
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has disclosed plan to upgrade its 23 Industrial Development Centres (IDCs) across the country to Enterprise centres and MSMEs clusters. This it said was in with its efforts to facilitate speedy development of MSMEs to enhance economic empowerment and employment generation.
Director General of SMEDAN, Mallam Bature Umar Masari, made this known in Abuja, shortly after briefing the Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar on the state of the IDCs.
Stressing the importance of the IDCs to skills and MSMEs development, the Director General said that the IDCs, after the upgrade through Public Private Partnership (PPP) would be converted into MSMEs Cluster parks and Enterprise zones.
He listed the IDCs slated for conversion into MSMEs cluster parks to include, Abeokuta (Ogun State) Akure (Ondo State) Bauchi (Bauchi State) Benin(Edo State) Kano (Kano State) Maiduguri (Borno State) Minna(Niger State) Ogoja (Cross Rivers State) Oshogbo (Osun State) Portharcourt (Rivers State) Sokoto (Sokoto State) Yola (Adamawa State) and Zaria (Kaduna State).
The Director General further said that the Industrial Development Centres, (IDCs ) in Enugu (Enugu State) Idu (FCT) Ikorodu (Lagos State) Ilorin (Kwara State) Jos (Plateau State) Katsina (Katsina State) Owerri (Imo State) Uyo (Akwa Ibom State) and Wukari (Taraba State) would be converted into Enterprise Zones because of their size to offer common facilities and workspaces to MSMEs in those states.
According to him, to ensure the actualisation of the plan, SMEDAN is already into partnership with Osun and Kano State governments for the redevelopment and upgrade of the IDCs in Oshogbo and Tiga respectively where huge funds are being committed by the two state governments on the upgrade and conversion of the facilities.
Bature pointed out that while the Tiga IDC is in the process of being converted to a world class leather cluster park, more than N200 Million has so far been expended on the improvement of facilities and rehabilitation of the Oshogbo IDC by the Osun state government under an MOU with SMEDAN.
He urged other state governments and the organised private sector to partner with SMEDAN in the current efforts of the federal government to make MSME development the bedrock for job creation and poverty alleviation in the country.
The Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, after the briefing restated the commitment of the present administration to engage all stakeholders in driving its policy of fighting unemployment and poverty in the country.
Aisha said that the Ministry will intensify its efforts at soliciting the support and partnership of the state governments and the private sector in converting the IDCs into more functional facilities for the development of MSMEs in the country.
She therefore charged SMEDAN to redouble its efforts in ensuring proper utilisation of the IDCs to support the Buhari’s administration industrialisation drive by providing skills to more Nigerians.