FG set to begin survey of MSMEs in all states – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said the federal government is set to commence the fourth round of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) survey.

The statistician-general of the federation and chief executive officer, Yemi Kale, made the announcement on Thursday, August 12, at a media briefing in Abuja.

He explained that the exercise would be carried out in 36 states and the FCT and cover 2019 and 2020, adding that the survey would begin on Monday with a train-the-trainers workshop, while fieldwork would commence on August 21.

Kale, represented by the director of real sector and household statistics department at NBS, Adeyemi Adeniran, explained that three surveys had been successfully carried out in 2010, 2013 and 2017.

According to him, “The new sub-division (Nano) refers to those enterprises that have only one or two persons engaged in their operations, while the micro-enterprises are those enterprises with three to nine persons engaged in their operations.

“On this note, the survey will, henceforth, be called NMSMEs survey. In addition, a new module was introduced into the survey, which is the impact of COVID-19 on business operations.

“It seeks to identify how enterprises coped during the pandemic period and what areas of support and intervention they will require from government at this post-COVID lockdown period.”

He explained further that the survey would help to establish a credible and reliable database for the MSMEs, adding that it would help to assess the contributions of the MSMEs sub-sector to gross domestic product (GDP) and identify the number of MSMEs owned on a gender basis.

He said: “The survey will also identify the skills gap in the sector; ascertain top priority areas that need government interventions and assistance and identify possible financing windows to raise low-cost financing.’’

In his remarks, the director-general, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dikko Radda, said that MSMEs are crucial to the sustainable growth of the economy.

According to him, “One of the key challenges that have limited the development and growth in the sub-sector is the absence of up-to-date and usable data of MSMEs.

“Unfortunately, the inclusive, effective and sustainable development of the sub-sector is largely dependent on the availability of usable data.

“The exercise will necessitate visits to MSMEs across the country, and we solicit the cooperation of all actors in the MSMEs space as our enumerators will soon come to administer questionnaires.”