The Honourable Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to monitor the distribution of the N200 billion presidential intervention fund recently launched for micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises and manufacturers in the country.
Oyintiloye, while speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Osogbo, said that the monitoring was important to ensure that the intervention fund achieved its targeted purpose.
The APC chieftain recalls that the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, had announced the launch of the N200 billion presidential intervention fund for micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises and manufacturers.
According to Uzoka-Anite, N75 billion will be distributed to MSMEs, while another N75 billion will be distributed to the manufacturing industry under the Intervention Fund.
Oyintiloye, who notes that the fund must be protected from being syphoned into the pockets of private individuals, said that all necessary strategies must be put in place to ensure that different intervention programmes of the president have positive impacts on the lives of Nigerians.
He urged the president to set up a monitoring team to ensure that the process was not sabotaged.
Oyintiloye, however, commended the president for the launch of the intervention fund, adding that it will boost economic growth and industrial development at all levels.
The APC Chieftain, who noted that MSMSEs would promote grassroots-level economic prosperity and create a multiplier effect on the overall economy, said that the presidential intervention fund for the sector was in the right direction.
He said the intervention fund would afford the MSMSEs, being the backbone of the economic structure, more opportunities to create more jobs, which would unlock their full potential in poverty reduction.
“MSMEs contribute over 45 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with 98.8 per cent of them in the micro cadre.
“They account for nearly 90 per cent of the jobs in the country.
“Therefore, as MSMEs grow, they create more jobs and contribute to GDP by producing goods and services for domestic consumption and export, which will lead to prosperity for more and less insecurity across the country.
“By creating jobs, MSMEs help to reduce unemployment rates, promote innovation, stimulate economic growth, and diversify.
“And that is the more reason we have to give it to the president for this initiative. It will in no small way boost the economy through the creation of an open new market because MSMEs are vital to the economic growth of any nation.
“But there must be a close watch on the distribution of the funds. The president must ensure that he is personally carrying out integrity checks on the process to prevent sabotage.”
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, said that the intervention fund would also boost the manufacturing industries in the country, adding that no modern economy could develop without a strong industrial base.
He said that with viable manufacturing industries in the country, there would be high growth, productivity, and competitiveness.
Oyintiloye said this would increase exports, enhance infrastructure, foster skill development, expand the tax base, and increase tax returns from both manufacturers and their workers, which would in turn increase revenue generation.
Oyintiloye, a former member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), however, urged Nigerians to continue to support the president for the delivery of more dividends of democracy.
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