Day: May 26, 2024

Elderstateman, Edwin Clark, on Saturday, re-echoed his call for restructuring to tackle the current security, socioeconomic and other challenges facing the country.

He made the call during a church thanksgiving service held to mark his 97th birthday anniversary.

Clark, a former Federal Commissioner of Information, who was happy to attain the age of 97, said that as the National Assembly reviews the 1999 Constitution, it was necessary to consider restructuring.

‘This country must be restructured. President Bola Tinubu should face the political problem of this country for the development of all regions.

‘This country has to be restructured so that everybody will be equal; so that every Nigerian can aspire to the position he wants to be.’

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) Leader, who expressed joy at 97 said, ‘I feel very happy; very much reassured about my own life. I feel very much fulfilled and I give thanks to Almighty God that I am 97.

‘I appreciate those who are taking care of my welfare and my secu
rity. I thank Nigerians too’.

He also called for a more united Nigeria where there would be more jobs created for the youths.

Earlier, Reverend Canon Bola Ogunyannwo, Assistant Priest of Saint James Anglican Church, described the celebrant as an individual who has dedicated his life to serving God.

‘He is a very humble man who God has blessed to achieve a lot for our nation. Who has sponsored so many people to rise to greater positions.

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‘Politically, he has done his bit,’ he said.

Ogunyannwo also said that so far, President Tinubu has achieved a lot with the signing of people-centred bills adding that a lot of other progress has been realised.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Mr Charles Odii, the Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has restated the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have access to finance.

Odii told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration was focused at ensuring small business owners in the country had access to finance to grow their businesses.

‘The president wants us to democratise access. Access to finance, access to market, capacity development, mentoring and network.

‘The president is running an administration where he wants the son of nobody to become somebody without knowing anybody. And this is basically in line with his Eight-point agenda.

‘So if you take one of the biggest things that we have tried to do in terms of access, it is access to finance. We have tried to democratise access to finance for small businesses.

‘This is because if you take 10 small businesses around the room and ask them what their prob
lems are, I can assure you that nine out of 10 of them will tell you that access to finance is the problem.

‘ So, we have started to democratise access to finance. we have started to make sure that small businesses can get cheap financing and get it easy,” he said.

The director-general said to address this, SMEDAN signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sterling bank to the tune of N5 billion for single digit interest at no collateral.

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He said : ‘small businesses can access this funding for work capital, for work tools, and also to procure workspaces at a single digit.

‘We have gone ahead to do the same thing with the Bank of Industry (BoI), we signed an MoU to the tune of one billion naira.

‘We signed the same one billion naira with Anambra, and Enugu state ,with Katsina state, so entrepreneurs in those different states can access funding at a single digit interest rate for business start-ups or for expansi
on.

‘We hope to do this with other states. And in the coming months, we will be unveiling the other states that we have been doing this with.”

According to Odii, these efforts resonate Tinubu’s vision of an inclusive economy aimed at creating equal opportunity for all regardless

of your background.

He said by easing financial constraints and enhancing market access, SMEDAN was paving the way for MSMEs growth and sustainability in the country.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), says it is committed towards ensuring the transformation of Nigeria’s job market to enhance economic development.

The Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr Charles Odii said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

While speaking on the strides of the agency President Bola Tinubu- led administration, Odii said the agency had a mandate to grow Nigeria’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

‘At SMEDAN, we have a mandate for the MSMEs sector and it is themed under Guidance, Resources, Opportunities and Work for support (GROW).

‘Now, for work support, one of the things that we do is to help build the capacities of our small businesses and connect them to talents.

‘And this is in line to create jobs and by doing so, we reduce the rate of unemployment and in that, capacity of money to do work, and earn a decent living in a country like Nigeria.

‘So the first thing that we have done for our small businesses is
help to identify their pain points, run a risk assessment on what exactly the small businesses need,” he said.

Odii said that it was important to know where the small businesses are located, and the problems they are confronted with.

According to him, it is only then we can start to meticulously deploy intervention that will help solve their problems.

He also highlighted the importance of understanding the needs of businesses across all 36 states and the FCT.

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‘Beyond that, we have started to create jobs. We empowered a couple of small businesses with tools that they need to start and grow enterprises, by doing so they will create jobs.

‘We granted many of them, approximately 10,000 small businesses from SMEDAN have been granted funds for them to start businesses and then expand.

‘His Excellency the President, in tandem with job creation has earmarked the sum of N200 billion for entrepreneurs in Nigeria,” he said.

According to Odii,
N75 billion is earmarked for those in manufacturing, another N75 billion for small businesses and N50 billion in terms of grant to Nano businesses and they can access as much as one billion Naira at a single digit.

‘We at SMEDAN help to build the capacity of these small businesses, we train them and then we deploy resources to them.

‘We have identified approximately 12,060 people who have interest and by the end of next week, we are going to place at least 4, 000 of them in high paying jobs where the minimum pay they get is N100,000.

‘We are doing this in partnership with one of our partners in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

According to Odii, the agency in the last seven weeks created approximately 48,000 jobs, while expressing hope to do as much as a million before the end of this administration.

The director-general said these are some of the things SMEDAN was doing to support small businesses, to create jobs and to stimulate the economy.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Abuja May 26, 2014(NAN) A former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Lamorde is dead.

He was aged 61.

Lamorde reportedly died on Sunday morning in Egypt, where he had travelled for medical treatment.

He was the third Executive Chairman of the anti-graft agency.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lamorde according to a family source died around 3.00am local time in Cairo, Egypt, three days after undergoing a surgery.

His remains are expected to be flown back to the country for burial.

He was born on Dec. 20, 1962, in Mubi, Adamawa state, and attended Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology in 1984.

He joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1986 and retired as a deputy inspector-general

Lamorde was the pioneer director of operations of the anti-graft agency when it was created in 2003.

He was acting chairman of the commission in January 2008, a position he held until Waziri was appointed chairperson and confir
med by the senate in June 2008.

Lamorde returned to the EFCC in 2010 as director of operations, replacing Stephen Otitoju.

Lamode was appointed in an acting capacity as chairman of the anti-graft agency on Nov. 23, 2011 following the removal of Farida Waziri by then President Goodluck Jonathan.

He was made third substantive chairman of the agency on Feb. 15, 2012, a position he held until Nov. 9, 2015, when former President Muhammadu Buhari replaced him with Ibrahim Magu.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), says technology is key to ensuring the inclusion and advancement of businesses in Nigeria.

The Director-General of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

According to him, the importance of digital technology in economic development cannot be overemphasized.

NAN reports that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is keen on using technology to curb corruption to the barest minimum.

According to Odii, this aligns perfectly with SMEDAN’s initiatives and strategy in advancing the sub-sector through technology.

‘Firstly, after identifying our small businesses, we are trying to deploy digital literacy so that there will be more funds to fund businesses.

‘And then compete with their colleagues or counterparts anywhere in the world.’

‘In our assessment and identification process, we are beginning to use technology to ensure inclusivity.

‘Both for assessment and we
are beginning to use technology to identify our beneficiaries so that the son of a nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody,’ he said.

According to him, this approach allows entrepreneurs to go online, apply, get interviewed, and receive resources without bias or unnecessary bureaucracy.

The director-general demonstrated how technology was being used as a scale yardstick.

‘Many of the programmes that we do, if you look at this office, even if we want to pack people here like sardines, we can’t take more than 100-150 people in this room.

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‘But with technology, the training that we give to 150 people assembled in this room, we can give to a million people anywhere around the world, breaking geographical barriers.

‘This digital approach significantly enhances the reach and impact of SMEDAN’s training programmes,’ Odii said.

According to him, the agency is working on deploying Artificial..Intelligence to host and disseminate it
s content across all 36 states and the FCT.

While emphasising the need for inclusiveness, Odii said: ‘our women are not left out.

‘We have created digital, and innovation desks at SMEDAN just so that we can start to meticulously deploy some of these interventions for our ecosystem.

‘This ensures that interventions are not only broad-reaching but also inclusive, particularly for women entrepreneurs.’

While underscoring the importance of internal capacity, the director-general said this digital transformation also extended to SMEDAN employees.

‘We want to make sure that SMEDAN employees are adequately prepared to deliver prosperity for the 40 million-plus small businesses in Nigeria,’

‘This internal focus on digital literacy and readiness reflects the broader goals of the administration to foster a technologically savvy workforce capable of driving economic growth,’ he said.

Odii restated President Bola Tinubu’s vision of democratising access to various resources, saying SMEDAN was actively supporting th
is mission through its digital initiatives.

He said by aligning with the President’s vision, SMEDAN was transforming the MSMEs sector and contributing to a more transparent, efficient, and inclusive economy in Nigeria.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Dr Kola Balogun, the Chairman of Equipment and Protective Applications International Ltd (EPAIL), says Nigeria is on its way to achieving local requirements in defence production and capabilities.

Balogun, who is also the Secretary General, Defence Industry Association of Nigeria (DIAN), said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja.

He said the new Defence Industry Cooperation of Nigeria (DICON) Act had provided the opportunity for the local firms to utilise local capacity to boost the nation’s defence production.

He also lamented that DICON had, since 1964, remained unproductive until the new law was signed by President Bola Tinubu.

According to him, DICON would have been so mandated since 1964 to produce defence targets or capability for the country as the equivalent of such industry in Brazil has been producing aircraft and so many other things.

‘But ours still remain unproductive,’ he lamented.

Balogun said the nation’s military had, for so long, depended solely on forei
gn capability, adding that the government had, for that reason, put up an executive order to involve private sector driven.

‘We needed to repeal the DICON Act which this present administration signed into law.

‘It was this development that forced the private sector to beef up the capacity and capability to venture into investing into development of various defence equipment, capability, gadgets, weapons, and so on.

‘EPAIL, which is one of the members of DIAN, has done so well to go and learn about capability and standard.

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‘There are global standards that midwife the defence development all over the world and that is why the investment on the construction or manufacture of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) or light armoured vehicle for the country is inevitable in line with the global standard.

‘We have put in so much energy, so much peculiarity to address some of the insurgencies since most of our war are asymmetric and because of that, we design a vehi
cle that is capable of higher maneuverability and little risk for all our troops.

‘So, our troops in this vehicle will not necessarily come out. They will be able to disengage the enemy right inside the vehicle while they are safe,’ he said.

The EPAIL boss commended President Bola Tinubu for encouraging local defence development in terms of capability.

He said the Light Armoured Personnel Carrier (APCs) vehicles recently produced and delivered to the military could resist AK 47 and some other light ammo weapons with sophisticated electronic sensor that could detect a proximity IED.

‘We have delivered 20 and they have given us another 20 orders to produce and some other services are actually trying to purchase more.

‘We have also produced some missile drones that we are going to supply to the defence industry very soon,’ he added.

Balogun said there was need for reassurance in terms of advocacy so as to encourage all arms of the military to believe in the development of local capabilities.

He also urged
the federal government to encourage more investors to come and invest in the defence industry, adding that its funding methodology was different.

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He envisioned a Nigerian defence industry that would start getting recognition by at least African countries in the nearest future.

According to him, EPAIL recently supplied the UN with ballistic vest and element.

‘Ghana is talking to us now to come and buy some of the fragmented jackets in the country.

‘It means they are now having confidence in what we are producing because we are now producing to standard,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria