SMEDAN Has Impacted Over 39 Million Small-scale Businesses, Says Ex-DG

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The immediate past Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr. Olawale Fasanya, said the agency had been able to assist in stabilising the operations of over 39 million small businesses across the country.

Established in 2003, Fasanya said SMEDAN had initiated several policies and programmes aimed at promoting the growth of small and medium enterprises, thereby boosting their contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

The former director-general spoke during the launch of his book, “From Cradle to Saddle,” a book that chronicled the progress recorded by SMEDAN in the last 23 years.

Fasanya, who started off as a pioneer staff of SMEDAN, said the agency had empowered many Nigerians to set up small businesses of their own, which were helping to create wealth and employment for young people.

He stated, “We initiated a lot of things, we achieved so much. I mentioned a few, the national policy on MSME. I was part of it and I took the lead, the ‘One Local Government, One Product’, and for many other things, you know, that when you read the book, you will see.

“We recorded a lot of feats because it was an agency that was created out of necessity.”

Tracing the history of the agency, the author said former President Olusegun Obasanjo felt that small and medium enterprise agencies had not been given the right attention.

Fasanya said, “So that was what led to the birth of that agency, and when that agency was created, like I said in the documentary, we had nothing, no platform, no funding, not even an office.

“It started from the guest house of the first director-general. So you can imagine an agency like that, that we now built from scratch to what it is today.”

While answering questions from journalists on his journey as a technocrat, Fasanya said he was once mocked by his friends when he ditched a million Naira job in the petroleum sector to accept the one in SMEDAN that offered him less than N300,000.

He stated, “Some people felt I was mad by leaving. It was actually roughly about N1.2 million, and I went back. I went back to a job that’s paying less than 300,000 but, you know, I was working with a chief executive who is also a Yoruba person, who also found me useful, said I should not leave, but I wasn’t in charge.

“He wanted me there just to be there as figure, so that’s why I said I can’t be where I will not be able to be on top of things.

“You cannot warehouse me, so I would rather go to where I’m getting less and I’m not warehoused, and I can impact, so I went back, not even knowing that God has something in stock for me, that I will become the director-general one day.”

Guest of Honour at the book launch and Governor of Kastina State, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, described Fasanya’s book as a compendium on the evolution of SMEDAN as a driving force for small and medium enterprises in the country.

Radda, who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Farouk Lawal, said development of small and medium enterprises was a critical factor in the economic growth of every nation.

As a former Chief Executive of SMEDAN, the governor said he had the privilege of working closely with Fasanya and “witnessing his first hand commitment, discipline, loyalty, and uncommon passion for the development of Nigeria’s small businesses in every institution”.

Radda stated, “There are individuals who barely occupy offices, and there are those who carry the institution in their hearts. Dr. Fasanya belongs to the latter category, because he is among the fine government officers who devoted themselves to the attainment of the vision and mission of this nation.”

In his remarks, Director-General of SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii, described the contributions of Fasanya to the growth SMEDAN as enormous, adding that he has been part of every policy formulation by the agency, up to its final implementation.

One of the book reviewers, Dr. Lemmy Ughegbe, said the author presented through the book multidimensional aspects of Nigeria’s quest for economic growth and development.