SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 28th EDITION OF THE MSME CLINICS IN JIGAWA STATE ON 1ST, JULY 2021
PROTOCOLS
I bring you the very warm greetings of His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari whose love for and appreciation of the people of Jigawa State is very well known to all of us.
I am glad to be here in Dutse, the capital of the great new world, Jigawa State, and we are here today to flag off the 28th Edition of the National MSME Clinic.
The MSME Clinic is a Federal Government initiative to work with State Governments to promote and support small and medium businesses. And it is appropriate and fitting that we should have this event here. Jigawa State continues to be the pace-setter in agriculture and rural development. It is as you all know, currently Nigeria’s largest producer of dates and hibiscus. The State is also the second-largest producer of gum arabic and sesame seed, as it is one of the top 3 rice-producing States in the country. But more importantly, it has proved itself to be one of the topmost attractive States in Nigeria for small and medium businesses.
As some of us will know, Jigawa was rated no 3 out of the 36 States and Abuja in the Ease of Doing Business Rankings conducted for the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council by the international consulting firm KPMG. And I suspect that the calculating Governor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, might be planning to make this State a tourism destination as only recently, he inaugurated the tallest national flag in Nigeria at 5.3 feet high. It was erected on one of the farms of one of our respected chieftains of the APC, Hon Farouk, whose farm is also a major investment in the State.
It is on account of the proactive stance of the Governor that we also chose to perform the National launch on the deployment of 100,000 Solar Home Systems under the Solar Power Naija Programme here in Jigawa in the Jangefe Community of Roni local government in the emirate when I visited Jigawa State in April this year to celebrate another great son of this State.
So let me also take this opportunity to congratulate and commend his excellency Governor Badaru Abubakar and his hardworking team for these great strides in a few short years, their dedication to duty, and quality of service to the good people of this State is really worthy of celebration.
The obvious reason for MSME clinics and the support the Federal Government gives them is because MSMEs are indisputably the engine of growth in any economy. MSMEs also employ the largest numbers of people. So, the MSME Clinics were designed to bring regulatory agencies whose work affects the business experience of MSMEs to meet with the MSMEs in the same venue.
So, I am here today with NAFDAC, CAC, NEPC, SON, BOI, FIRS, all the regulatory agencies are here with me in Jigawa State today as part of this Clinic, because this is the opportunity that MSMEs have to bring their business problems to the attention of the regulatory agencies for the solution and this is outside of the intimidating offices of these agencies.
By bringing the regulatory authorities directly to the MSMEs, the MSMEs are saved the costs of moving between different agency offices which are not even always in the same town. MSME Clinics have also helped the regulatory agencies on their part to gain a better understanding of the difficulties that MSMEs face, and how to improve their services to help these businesses.
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Oluyemi Oluleke “Yemi” Osinbajo is a Nigerian Lawyer and politician who is the current Vice President of Nigeria, in office since 29 May 2015.
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