The Federal Government has said that over 392,000 businesses have so far benefited from the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises clinic.

The MSME clinic is one of the strategies of the Federal Government to make it easier to do business in Nigeria.

The project brings together key Federal Government agencies to a series of business forums organised in different cities across the country where MSMEs can easily interact with them.

Speaking during a media briefing in Abuja, the Coordinator of the Screening Committee for the MSMEs awards, Mr Monday Ewans, stated that the initiative had been implemented in about 23 states of the federation.

Present at the Media briefing was the Special Adviser to the Vice President on MSMEs, Mr Tola Johnson, and representatives from the Bank of Industry, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control; and the Corporate Affairs Commission, among others.

Ewans said the implementation of the initiative had assisted the government to create the environment for businesses to thrive.

Ewan, who is the Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, said the government in recognition of the roles played by MSMEs decided to come up with an award to further support the sector.

He said the target of the award was to celebrate excellence in various sectors of the economy such as manufacturing, agriculture, furniture and woodwork, technology innovation and fashion, among others.

He said, “The aim of the MSME clinic is to create an enabling environment for small businesses to prosper towards creating jobs, creating wealth and eradicating poverty in this country.

“The MSME clinic has gone to 23 states and a lot of impacts have been made and one of the fallout of the clinic is the award.”

He said going forward, the government would intensify its intervention in small businesses through access to finance.