We are passionate in fighting corruption – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday said the present administration has integrity and would continue to prevent corruption at all levels.

He spoke in Ondo town during the inauguration of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) clinic.

Osinbajo said “We will continue to expand social investment schemes as income increases.

“The difference between us and any previous government is that we are not going to steal the money. We spend the money on the people, that’s the difference.”

“We will continue to invest in states through the Social Investment Programme. But as our income increases we intend to improve and continue to expand.”

“Indeed, in the last three years, we have demonstrated an abiding commitment to facilitating genuine efforts by all the States of the Federation to attract investment, to diversify their economic base, and create jobs and economic opportunity for their people.”

“So far, we have held 13 editions of the MSMEs Clinic in various states across all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, and we are today holding the 14th edition of the MSMEs Clinic here in Ondo state.

“This is further demonstration of our commitment in ensuring that small businesses, market women, artisans have several opportunities to do business successfully.”

“It is of course well known that MSMEs have tended to be neglected in this country over the years, as a result of competing priorities as well as a tendency to discount their contribution to the national economy.

“As individual units, small businesses may appear to be slight, but together they account for as much as 50 percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and over 80 percent of our labour force”.

Osinbajo said the MSMEs Clinics were conceived with this in mind; designed to bring government closer to the people by assembling in one place all the regulatory agencies whose work affects the business experience of small and medium scale businesses.

According to him, “This affords MSMEs an efficient platform to which they can bring their business-related problems for the intervention of regulatory agencies for solution, outside the formal and sometimes intimidating offices of these agencies.

“At the same time, gaining access to all the agencies in one place saves MSMEs the travel time and cost of having to seek out different agencies”.

The VP noted that since the launch of this programme last year, it has been easier for small businesses to access funds, because the Bank of Industry (BOI), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) and the Nigerian Export and Import Bank (NEXIM) .

Osinbajo said they have used the Clinics to increase awareness of their products, and also make available credit to participating businesses.

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