Dr Umar Dikko Radda is the current helsman at the top echelon of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency SMEDAN, the hub of both small, intermediate businessed that are the stable of not only Nigerian economy, but the world economies.
Radda, a well read and highly exposed personality is combining his indepth academic candour, exposure, managerial and technocratic ideals to return the lost glory arising from the world ravaged pandemic COVID-19 to bear on the organisation, to mitigate the daunting effects of many months of lockdown from the scourge.
This is in addition to the basic activities of the agency putting in place to ensure the intervention and sustenance of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) thrives in Nigeria, as the main driving force of major economies.
In his zeal of diversification and re-organisation, Dr Radda’s few years in office has witnessed alot of innovations and initiatives, by serving as template for youths engagement, skill acquisition, poverty alleviation, curb unemployment and under employement, as well as open up more avenues for profitable ventures.
In that vein, the agency under his leadership has engaged in training, re-training of many artisans and provided with starter packs and seeds to enable them realise their potentials.
This include playing a major role of an inroads to major policies of government agencies and departments, corporate organisations to form a major policy thrust, that will drive the country’s enterprises through enterpreneurship, public and private participation.
Similarly, the new leadership in SMEDAN had created an enabling environment to encourage more investment from Federal lawmakers, who indulge in using both the manpower and wherewithal of the agency, as spring board to reach out adequately to constituents in the area of empowerment, skill development, capacity building, trainings and other efforts geared towards maintaining a slim gap between the poverty circle and the well to do in the society.
It is on record that many Federal legislators both in the Senate and House of Representatives domiciled most of their Constituency projects, with assurance and security of being delivered as at when due, without any adminstrative bottlenecks and encumbrances.
Dr Radda’s achievements encouraged the Federal government into domiciling N75 billion MSME’s fund in the agency, to engage both small scale business, business interest, artisans, traders, skills into self sustenance.
This is also in addition to free registeration of 250,000 free MSME’s based conglomerates, to encourage bumper business interests piloted by SMEDAN in the post COVID-19 era.
These policies of government driven by the leadership of SMEDAN under the tutelage of Dr Umar Dikko Radda, will assist in no small measure to relive the effects of the world ravaged pandemic and serve as both solutions to the economic emancipation of many Nigerians beyond poverty level.
This development will on the long run go along way in bringing back the already comatose industries, position to provide employment outlets, but went into oblivion over dearth of intiatives, policies and programmes in Nigeria.
With Dr Umar Dikko Radda at the head of SMEDAN, no doubt more inroads into industrialisation of Nigeria, and thriving of small and large scale business is guaranteed.
Abubakar Yusuf, a Public Affairs analyst writes from Abuja.
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