Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has charged government agencies to do more in a bid to meet President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan of pulling 10 million Nigerians out of poverty annually.
Osinbajo gave the charge while addressing several Heads and representatives of Federal Government agencies interfacing with MSMEs at a meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja and was contained in a statement signed and sent to DAILY POST by his Media Aide, Akande Laolu.
Recalling at the meeting, the plan of Buhari to pull out 10 million Nigerians annually out of poverty in the next ten years, Osinbajo, said: “Clearly, we need to do a lot of things on scale”.
It was also disclosed that the Bank of Industry has approved a $20M technology fund for young innovators, while Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is offering a N90B soft loan facility for small scale Agric enterprises, and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, which is now poised more than ever to register more Nigerians venturing into the food and drug businesses.
Addressing several heads and representatives of Federal Government agencies interfacing with MSMEs after they had all given reports and made presentations at the meeting, Osinbajo said, “we have all the competence we need in this room, we even have the erudition. What we need is to coordinate and the willingness to implement. We need to get things done. We have all it takes.”
Speaking, the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry, Mr. Kayode Pitan said the $20 million technology fund was part of measures of the bank to support the Buhari administration and encourage technology innovators grow the technology sector.
He disclosed that the Bank’s board has approved the soft loan fund already.
Pitan explained that technology innovators and startups would be supported through the fund to grow viable businesses in the technology sector, adding that National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), represented also at the meeting would monitor progress made by beneficiaries of the fund.
