Governor Adamu pledges to support small-scale enterprises

The Nasarawa state government will encourage the establishment and growth of small and medium sized enterprises as a major flank of its battle against poverty. Governor Adamu made this declaration in Lafia while declaring open a 2-day Competency-based Economies through the Formation of Enterprise (CEFE) workshop organized in conjunction with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

Governor Adamu used the occasion to declare that government alone cannot be the sole economy in the state. Consequently, it was necessary to develop a viable private sector which will supplement government effort at poverty reduction. He said the workshop was deliberately organized to sensitize the stakeholders on the need to promote small-scale enterprises as an alternative economy for the state. He urged the workshop participants to see themselves as a foundation set of the project and prepare to showcase themselves as samples for other future participants in the programme.

Gabriele Noack-Spaeth

Earlier, the head of the GTZ from Lagos, Gabriele Noack-Spaeth said the programme was being run in Nasarawa and Niger States, with Nasarawa being the first to enjoy the programme. The objective of the workshop, she said, was to improve the performance of Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMME) and the relevance this has on employment generation. In the course of the workshop, demand driven measures will be developed and marketed to enhance access to information, advisory services as well as further education and vocational training. Furthermore access to commercial loan funding is to be improved as are lending terms and conditions for SMME.

In addition it is intended to contribute to improvement in the framework conditions and the enabling environment by cooperating and interacting with bodies at the federal level.

The workshop is being attended by a select group from the public and private sectors of the economy.