The federal government plans to disburse N 250 billion in loans to medium, small and micro enterprises to stimulate job creation across the country.

According to the National Development Plan 2021-2025 (Volume II), a copy of which was obtained by PUNCH, the federal government plans to increase loan disbursements to MSMEs from 190 billion naira to 440 billion naira.

The government has said the loans on offer are part of its employment and job creation plan which aims, among other things, to address the challenge of harnessing the potential of the youth demographics into a productive force for growth and reduction. of poverty.

The report says Nigeria’s vision for 2025 would build on the progress of previous plans to support the process of formalizing MSMEs and align strategies in high growth sectors to ultimately generate massive job creation.

The government has also unveiled its intention to adopt these strategies to stimulate job creation.

According to the report, the proposal aims to “create cross-sectoral linkages to unleash the potential of high-growth sectors essential for job creation by mapping and identifying synergies and opportunities with the greatest potential for massive job creation. but durable; support the commercial viability of MSMEs to stimulate job creation by supporting the standardization of operations and increasing access to finance, and develop a framework for partnering with the private sector by identifying skills gaps and designing skills development programs aligned with their needs.

He added that providing easy access to finance for MSMEs is essential to create jobs and ultimately lift millions of people out of poverty during the five-year period covered by the NDP.

To achieve this, the government, through the Development Bank of Nigeria, intends to provide technical assistance to partner financial institutions to improve their lending capacity to MSMEs, enhance operational efficiency and strengthen the capacity of MSMEs to access finance, and provide concessional loans and credit guarantees.

The plan said the government also planned, among other things, to increase the value of guaranteed loans from N6.2 billion to N116.5 billion and to train 375 MSMEs by 2023.

It is also expected to create 25 million jobs by 2025, according to the document.

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