The federal government has reiterated plans to inaugurate an intervention programme to further drive Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
Special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, made this known in Abuja, yesterday.
Oduwole said the intervention programme was one of the five strategic pillars contained in the PEBEC’s 2024 Outlook document released by the secretariat.
The programme is tagged PEBEC Business Champions Programme.
“Having worked with MSMEs for over seven years, we realised that while systemic regulatory and judicial interventions are important, strategically, we must be committed to delivering faster results.
“The Business Champions intervention targets medium to large-sized industries and there are two parts to that programme.
“The first part is to work with medium-sized enterprises and have a pilot cohort of about 25 businesses.
“This intervention will be a bespoke service to help these medium businesses navigate the business climate from the government’s perspective,” she said.
She said the selection of businesses would be determined by factors such as revenue, tax contributions, job creation, sectors and export proceeds.
Oduwole said there were 23 companies with over one billion dollars in annual revenue in Nigeria and the intervention would also target these sets of companies.
She said: “the decision to change models stems from the observation that larger businesses exhibit an ‘osmosis’ effect, leading to the clustering of stakeholders.
“It was determined that we will need to have this new approach to move faster and to grow the economy faster in these turbulent times.”
Oduwole said with the legislative intervention, there would be a further review of the Omnibus Act emphasising the collaborative efforts of over 40 law firms nationwide.
According to her, the firms volunteered their expertise pro bono to review approximately 21 business laws, culminating in the formation of the Act.
Oduwole restated the council’s ongoing collaboration with state judiciaries to streamline the establishment of additional Small Claims Courts.
She recalled that at the commencement of 2023, only eight states in Nigeria established Small Claims Courts, but by the year’s end, the number had surged to 25.
She also emphasised the importance of the strategic communications interventions to disseminate information about the reforms, ensuring widespread awareness and comprehension among businesses and key stakeholders across Nigeria.
PEBEC was established in July 2016 by the federal government to oversee Nigeria’s business environment intervention.
The PEBEC has been prioritised by President Bola Tinubu in line with his eight-point Renewed Hope Agenda.
The new council was inaugurated on Nov. 16, 2023 with 24 members from all arms and levels of government, and is chaired by the vice president, Kashim Shettima.
