The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has said that the Federal Government will create no fewer than five million jobs from its Post-Covid-19 economic recovery plans.
The minister said plans were on to save about 1.4 million jobs for Nigerians, with 40 per cent of them in female-owned businesses and 10 per cent in businesses belonging to people with special needs.
Adebayo disclosed these on Thursday in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Julius Toba-Jegede.
The Minister noted that the move was part of his ministry’s input in playing a leading role in the Federal Government’s delivery of real sector interventions of its Economic Sustainability Plan in the wake of the global pandemic.
To achieve these, he said the Federal Government would be implementing the plan through three broad programmes.
The programmes are the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Survival Fund, the Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus Scheme and the Credit Support to MSMEs and Priority Sector.
He said, “These interventions will save and create about five million jobs, support continued operations and increase in production capacity in priority sectors, and protect MSMEs from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect that the Survival Fund will save 1.4 million jobs across the country with 40 per cent of them in the female-owned MSMEs and 10 per cent in businesses owned by persons with special needs.
”The Guaranteed Offtake Stimulus Scheme’s objective is to protect jobs, stimulate economic activities across the country and protect the income of vulnerable MSMEs by guaranteeing offtake of items produced by these businesses. The scheme will save an additional 300,000 jobs in MSMEs nationwide.”
The minister said the Credit Support to MSMEs and priority sectors would provide affordable finance to key sectors impacted by the pandemic and boost manufacturing capacity in priority sectors.
This scheme, according to him, will save and create an additional three million jobs and will be implemented through N50bn MSME de-risking facility, and N100bn intervention fund for priority sectors.
The sectors to benefit from the economic programme include healthcare, agro-processing, creative industry, local oil and gas and exports.
He added that there would also be a N150bn Capitalisation Fund and a N50bn Export Expansion Facility.
The minister noted that the programmes had been designed with a robust governance structure and a monitoring and evaluation framework to ensure their successful implementation.
