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From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Charles Odii, has announced the establishment of common facility centres in the country to support small-scale industries and artisans.
Odii revealed this during an interactive session with the Senate committee on Industries chaired by Senator Fadahunsi Francis. He stated that fashion designers, shoe makers can walk into the centre and purchase raw materials to manufacture their products.
He added that the agency has also reached an understanding with a transport company to enable these artisans dispatch their finished goods to their customers across the country.
At the meeting which was attended by Senators Orji Uzor Kalu, Victor Umeh, Sadiq Umah and others, the DG told the committee that the agency had secured a N5billion loan facility with Sterling Bank to support business owners in the country.
He said; “All the artisans in the FCT who are in the fashion and textile industry, what happens is that they can come in. I just announced that we have a five billion naira at nine percent interest rate at no capital small businesses across the country, so they can come in and access this funding, go and buy raw materials, come to the common facility center and process their goods and services, warehouse it and almost immediately distribute it across the nation.”
Senator Aliero on his part said that the Senate would be interested to know the process through which the loans will be disbursed.
He said” we will be very much interested in knowing where these centers are established. I am equally interested in the National Business skills initiative and the conditional grant scheme. We want to know how far you have gone with it and what will be the mode of that cash transfer.
Need for the committee to guide the newly appointed DG was sought by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. The Senate Committee Chairman on Privatisation appealed to his colleagues to show some understanding with Odii as he was just new in office.
Kalu said; “The DG is a very good DG, this committee needs to put him in the right direction, there should be no need of asking him too many questions. Possibly he is yet to grab what has been going on at the agency. He is looking at the assets and liabilities so I will plead with my colleagues to be more lenient with him.
Chairman of the committee Senator Fadahunsi urged the DG to cooperate with the Senate committee while assuring that they would replicate such a gesture in order for the Director General to succeed in office in the interest of Nigerians.
