Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo will on Thursday launch the Nationwide Small and Medium Enterprise Clinic and the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme in Osun, South-West Nigeria.
The MSME Clinic is a scheme under the office of the Vice President targeted at helping small and medium enterprises to be positioned for critical roles in re-energising the economy.
A statement by the Commissioner Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives , Mr Ismaila Jayeoba-Alagbada explained that the Vice President will lead the Federal Government delegation to Osun to officially unveil the MSME Clinic and the GEEP in the state.
Jayeoba-Alagbada stated that the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) also known as MarketMoni, is an enterprise intervention program of the President Muhammad Buhari administration that provides soft loans for small businesses at no interests to farmers, artisans and small traders.
GEEP provides soft loans between N25,000 to N250,000 to beneficiaries to catalyse their businesses and provide positive engagements for many Nigerians who hitherto had faced problems of unemployment.
The MSME had earlier been set up in Aba, Ilorin, Sokoto, Jos, Katsina, Calabar, Abeokuta, Abuja, and Uyo.
The program was originally launched in Abuja in July this year.
It was initiated based on the survey that showed that MSMEs contribute about 48% to the annual GDP of the country.
Jayeoba-Alagbada said: “All is set to receive the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo for the flag off of these programmes and we are confident that here in Osun, he would find an already robust programme aimed to energising the economy.
“However, these fresh interventions would go a long way to increase opportunities for our people in the overall mission to empower our people.”