NBS, SMEDAN To Identify MSMEs’ Skills Challenges
The National Bureau of Statistics and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency will soon commence a national survey to identify some of the challenges facing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector of the economy.
Both agencies on Tuesday met with stakeholders in the sector to fine-tune strategies on how to improve deliverables from the national MSME survey.
Speaking at the event, the Director-General, SMEDAN, Dikko Radda, said the survey would provide a credible database for the MSME sector in Nigeria.
This, he noted, would enable policy makers to measure the contribution of the sector to job creation and poverty reduction.
Radda said the survey would also provide a platform to determine the number of MSMEs in the country, identify the main challenges and constraints facing them as well as identify the skill gaps within the sector.
He stated that the last survey conducted for the sector was in 2014 when it was revealed that there were 37.06 million enterprises employing 59.74 million people.
The survey, he noted, showed that the sector contributed 48.7 per cent or N38.78tn to the country’s Gross Domestic Product and 7.07 per cent of export earnings.
“The outcome of this exercise has been incorporated into a reviewed survey design and instruments for the conduct of the current exercise throwing up issues, which stakeholders now have the opportunity to revalidate in order to secure a wider buy-in prior to deploying the instrument for the survey exercise, “ Radda said.
In his comments at the event, the Statistician General for the Federation and Chief Executive, NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale, said the survey would help the government in the area of policy formulation, planning and development.
Kale stated, “We are all aware of the government’s policy to aid the empowering, growth, development and performance of the MSMEs.
“The MSMEs are very important catalyst in the development and industrialisation of our country. Their contribution to the transition of an agricultural led economy to industrial one cannot be overemphasised.”
