The apex bank is ready to increase interventions to support start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to Kogi state with the sum of N5 Billion, OBSERVERS TIMES learnt.
The Bank source said that increased access to finance for start-ups and SMEs was highly essential for the nation’s economy to grow as Kogi state is at the final stages of accessing the money.
The importance of MSMEs in an economy remains very pivotal, especially as evidence abounds that economic growth and development of prosperous and progressing countries all over the world have been driven by MSMES.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria has about 37 million MSMEs, and if properly financed, it is expected that they would make far-reaching contributions to the country’s quest to rank among the top 20 economies of the world by 2020.
Though OBSERVERS TIMES investigation Investigations revealed cases of irregularities as it was observed that state governors and some politicians are subverting the programme
Many of these beneficiaries, it was observed, were not qualified to access the fund, mainly by the fact that they are not MSMEs or business owners.
Specifically, it’s observed that politicians are setting up proxy companies to access the funds, while some of the politicians are seeking to know what is in it for them before they make any genuine effort to push for the success of the policy.
