The Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar has reiterated SMEDAN’s willingness to partner with other relevant government and private organisation with a view to driving the policy implementation of the Federal government in respect of small and medium enterprises (SME) development in the country.

Alhaji Umar made the commitment while receiving a team from the National Commission for Mass literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC), who paid him a courtesy visit aimed at identifying areas of collaboration with SMEDAN at the Agency’s Headquarters in Abuja.

The Director-General noted that the development of SMEs in the country has been largely ignored, a situation which has led to their slow growth and lack of positive national developments.

He added that the proposed partnership between the two bodies was crucial to the development of the nation, especially as education of the youths and adults held the key to the speedy development of small businesses in the country.

“Education makes businesses sustainable, while businesses engage our youths positively, making them both politically and economically independent, he noted. “Therefore, the importance of collaboration between NMEC which educates, and SMEDAN which trains in skill, cannot be overemphasized. It is the only way business development, survival and sustainability can be ensured” he stressed.

Earlier, the Executive secretary of the NMEC, Alhaji Jibrin Yusuf Paiko explained that the purpose of their visit was to identify general and specific areas of partnership with SMEDAN.

He noted that the Commission intended to run vocational and educational programmes in three Local Government Areas in all the states of the Federation in fulfilment of its basic mandate of tackling the high level of literacy in the country.

“it is regrettable” he said, “that 35 percent of Nigerians over 15 years are illiterates, with two-thirds of them being females. This is why NMEC, a basic education outfit mandated to educate and empower adults and youths is establishing vocational training centres to develop the relevant people in skill acquisition. We believe this will go a long way in reducing youth restiveness in the country” he added