ABUJA – (Federal Ministry of Communications Report) – The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu (Dr) has disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Communications would give 100% support to the cause of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and African SME Expo. The Minister stated this recently in Abuja when he received a delegation from the African SME Expo led by its Chairman, Abdulqadir Musafari (Amb) at the Ministry’s Conference Room in Abuja.
Shittu pledged the Ministry’s unflinching support for the hosting of the next Africa SME Expo, emphasizing that the Ministry and her agencies will create an enabling environment and offer the necessary support it needs for the big event. According to him, the delegation is doing a patriotic job by portraying selflessness in pursuit of public interest cause.
“I want to thank your group for what it is doing. I see it as a selfless duty because I have not seen anything which may benefit you personally as individuals. These are initiatives aimed at providing job opportunities for young ones who have innovative ideas to develop themselves,” he implied.
The Minister urged the African SME Expo Chairman to set aside any political interest and ensure that national interest has its way in the cause of coordinating the Expo, adding that the task should be carried out as a humanitarian job.
While delivering his address to the Minister and key Management Team members at the meeting, the Chairman of the African SME Expo, Abdulqadir Musafari (Amb) reported that the mission of the delegation to the Ministry was to seek the Ministry’s support to partner and advance the cause of SMEs in the ICT Sector. He further explained that the Expo is aimed at promoting government policies in areas like Agriculture, Telecommunications, Mining, ICT and Human Resource Development.
“The expo will create 2 million jobs in the ICT Sector. Hence, the series of meetings with the parastatals and likewise target investors that will inject fund into the sector,” he observed.
Abdulqadir Musafari commended the Ministry of Communications for its efforts in the reform, restructuring and modernization of the Nigerian Postal Service to become commercially viable and attractive to Nigerians.
