Mr Jean Bakole, Regional Director, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), says the organisation has provided free training for 15,000 small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Nigeria.

Bakole told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja that the support for the SMEs was part of UNIDO’s technical support and response which focused on industrial governance.

He added that the training was aimed at supporting the SMEs on skill acquisition to formalise their businesses, helping them on master plan development and facilitating their access to credit.

Bakole said that SMEs represented about 96 per cent of the businesses in the country, adding that attention should be given to them since they were the foundation of industries.

According to him, the SMEs currently contribute 50 per cent of the GDP and have provided over 48 per cent of employment opportunities in the country.

“SMEs are important tools for industries and there is no way a country can move forward in the acceleration of industries without consolidating them.

“Nigeria has  many unemployed youths, and provision and support for SMEs will help in creating jobs, thereby reducing the number of unemployed youths in the country,” he said.

Bakole stressed the need to make changes and initiate strategies to improve the industrial sector.

“It is imperative also to improve on data on SMEs, as they are here to provide services for big scale industry, with both constituting very good platform to create more jobs in the society.

“SMEs represent 96 per cent of the businesses in the country. We should, therefore, not neglect their   importance in the area of job creation and contributions to the nation’s economic growth,” he said.

(NAN)