POVERTY ALLEVIATION : The walfarist and populist programms of Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola in his eight years selfless service has given it a worldwide recognition by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In their separate statements in 2018 the two bodies said Osun State has reduced poverty to its lowest ebb compared to other states in Nigeria.
The commissioner of Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Mr. Ismaila Adekunle-Alagbada gave the stewardship of Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola in the past eight years.
In his address at his Abere office where he addressed the press, he reiterrated the commitment of the Aregbesola administration to the reduction of unemployment and poverty level in the state in the past eight years.
Ogbeni Aregbesola’s educational performances unparalled in Osun history
“In addition to the initial sum of N100 million disbursable fund provided by the State Government, a sum of N2 billion was secured under the Central Bank of Nigeria Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (CBN-MSME Development Fund). The State Government guaranteed the CBN Fund. The operational guideline of the CBN-MSME Development Fund requires loanees under the Fund to pay an interest of 9%. However, loans under the Fund through the Micro-Credit Agency were granted interest-free in the first year of its operation. The State Government bore the burden of paying the interest as a way of assisting the beneficiaries to speedily grow their businesses.”
“COCOYAM OFF-TAKERS’ EMPOWERMENT SCHEME
As part of the exit programmes for cadets of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O-YES), 332 cadets were empowered to the tune of N33,200,000.00 to off-take cocoyam from farmers and supply to food vendors under the State O-Meal programme.
TRANSPORTERS’ EMPOWERMENT SCHEMES
Three Transporters’ Empowerment Schemes were put in place to boost transport business and ease public commuting significantly. In the first Scheme, forty transporter-indigenes of the State who operate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were empowered by way of soft loans to the tune of N106,000,000.00 to procure new taxis. Under the second Scheme, 70 new 14-seater Toyota Hiace buses were distributed to members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) as soft loans in kind to the tune of N385 million. The third Scheme is that of empowerment of operators of intra-city mini-buses. Under this Scheme, sixty-two (62) new mini-buses were supplied as soft loans in kind to the tune of N108, 500,000.00 to members of the Cooperative Transporters’ Association and the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).”
“The highlighted efforts of the State Government, among others, have started yielding fruitful results. The support to MSMEs has led to an increase in the number of these classes of enterprises from the 2010 figure of 481,451 to 1,358,446 as at September, 2018. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the State had increased from N191.1 billion to N398 billion over the same period. The latest reports of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) classify Osun as the State with the lowest poverty rate in Nigeria.”
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PRESS STATEMENT BY THE COMISSIONER FOR COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES AND COOPERATIVES, STATE OF OSUN, MR. ISMAILA ADEKUNLE JAYEOBA-ALAGBADA ON VARIOUS POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMMES IN THE EIGHT YEARS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF OGBENI RAUF ADESOJI AREGBESOLA AT THE CONFERENCE ROOM OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES AND COOPERATIVES ON MONDAY, 5TH NOVEMBER, 2018
Protocol.
This conference is called to elucidate, for record and posterity purposes, key poverty alleviation programmes of the State Government of Osun in the eight years of the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola. The landmark achievements of the administration is a watershed in the history of the State. In a spate of eight years, the State has witnessed monumental, visible and enduring achievements in every sector of the State economy. Mr. Governor has kept faith with the people of Osun in dogged implementation of the well-known six-point integral action plan of his administration which he succinctly tagged “My Pact with the Peopleâ€. Various successful interventions of the administration in agriculture, education, health, job creation, peaceful communal co-existence, poverty banishment, to mention a few, have impacted positively and powerfully on the socio-economic transformation of the State.
Let me highlight achievements in a number of programmes which are the focus of this conference.
FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES THROUGH OSUN MICRO-CREDIT AGENCY
Finance is a critical requirement for business operation. A large segment of the business community in the State is made up of micro and small-scale businesses operators, notably, artisans, traders, small-holder farmer and diverse service providers. Operators in these groups largely require micro-credit to keep the engine of their businesses running. In order to keep this vital segment in active operation and for the purpose of their growth and metamorphosis into the formal sector, a substantially de-bureaucratised entity, Osun Micro-Credit Agency, was established in 2014. The agency is carefully structured to effectively and efficiently render micro-credit delivery services to the aforementioned cadre of business operators.
The agency is empowered to source fund globally for on-lending to micro and small businesses. In addition to the initial sum of N100 million disbursable fund provided by the State Government, a sum of N2 billion was secured under the Central Bank of Nigeria Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (CBN-MSME Development Fund). The State Government guaranteed the CBN Fund. The operational guideline of the CBN-MSME Development Fund requires loanees under the Fund to pay an interest of 9%. However, loans under the Fund through the Micro-Credit Agency were granted interest-free in the first year of its operation. The State Government bore the burden of paying the interest as a way of assisting the beneficiaries to speedily grow their businesses.
Through effective and efficient credit administration and management, the initial fund released to the agency by the State Government and that from the CBN have been serially revolved and has grown to N4, 536,035,000.00. As at September, 2018, a total number of 27,352 MSMEs which are made up of seven sectors had benefitted from the credit facilities of the agency. The sectoral distribution is as follows:
S/N
Sector
No of Beneficiaries
%
Amount Disbursed(N)
1
Commerce
12,531
44.7
2,027,225,000.00
2
Agriculture
9,796
35.0
1,585,496,000.00
3
Manufacturing
2,661
10.4
472,001,000.00
4
Artisans
1,886
7.3
330,717,000.00
5
Education
248
1.2
53,578,000.00
6
Health
223
1.3
59,728,000.00
7
Hotel and Hospitality
7
0.2
7,290,000.00
Total
27,352
100
4.536,035,000.00
The beneficiaries are spread across all the Local Government Areas of the State.
As the Osun economy rapidly urbanises and benefits from the considerable socio-economic investments of the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola led administration, the State Government has through its Microcredit Agency undertaken another groundbreaking step towards tackling the issue of MSME financing. The agency has implemented a digital transformation project aimed at improving efficiency, raising standards of people-centred service delivery, adopting global risk management and improving operational transparency.
In order to maintain a competitive advantage in the fastâ€moving Microfinance landscape, the digital transformation project was initiated to automate and formalise the loan origination processes, standardise risk management, leverage cost-effective data, storage and business intelligence capabilities. The project included the deployment of a Loan Management Platform (Compass) offering a suite of digital solutions. Hence, affording prospective borrowers and the State Government the following benefits:
Access: Increased customer access to through digital agency banking services.
Cost: Cost Reduction and Faster Loan Approval using Cutting Edge Technology/Services
Risk: Reduced Credit Risk and improved NPL compliance using first of its kind Risk Automation solution leveraging industry revered biometric (BVN) and Credit Bureau integrations
Speed: Real-time processing and workflow automation for improved efficiency, responsiveness and compliance
Efficiency: Increased transparency, automated alerts improved security, and audit control following global best practices. Flexibility to view the loan portfolio at any time and from any location increases efficiency
Intelligence & Insight: Improved Executive, Operational & Regulatory Reporting
Robust Document Management: centralized loan management data & interfaces, facilitating seamless, secure and scalable data access & sharing for the Agencyand loan applicants.
The project implementation was in close collaboration with the agency staff and its technology service partners. This involved an extensive process and product evaluation, solution design and a user-experience led implementation, resulting a fit-for-purpose and fully customized solution. Following iterative consultation exercises with aforementioned stakeholders an iterative training Programme was undertaken after User Acceptance testing was concluded. Some of the immediate gains since deploying the solution are as follows:
Immediate Gains
The implementation of the digital transformation project has already started yielding results, as all existing disbursed or approved loan records have been fully digitized for immediate use. This already affords the Agency management relevant insight to status/analytics of its loans portfolio and instant access to legacy records.
The various credit officers covering the six zones of the state now have instant/real time access to critical reports and dashboards of the various assessment exercises being conducted.
Communication between agency staff and prospective, active loan beneficiaries has been significantly enhanced, as multi-channel instant communication capabilities have been implemented. For example, loan applicants are being notified instantly via SMS immediately their loan application has been approved and ready for disbursement. While, agency staff are provided instant notification once a loan requires their attention or has comments from others.
QUICK IMPACT INTERVENTION PROGRAMME (QIIP)
The Quick Impact Intervention Programme (QIIP) is an agricultural initiative of the Aregbesola administration which took off in 2011. Its core activity is the extension of micro-credit facilities to co-operative farmers.
The programme objectives are to:
ensure food sufficiency, job creation, poverty alleviation and overall economic development of the State and
improve farmers’ agricultural outputs.
A total sum of N851, 669,532.53 had been disbursed from the inception of the programme in 2011 to date. 496 farmers’ cooperative groups with a combined membership of 11,460 had benefitted. his is made up of 19% men, 36% women and 45% youths.
OSUN STATE GOVERNMENT-BANK OF INDUSTRY MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MATCHING FUND (OSSG-BOI MSMES MATCHING FUND).
This is a joint Fund of the State Government and the Bank of Industry (BOI) Under the Fund, the State Government provided a sum of N250 million which was matched with another sum of N250 million to have a pool of N500million disbursable to micro-businesses on the platform of cooperative societies as well as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). As at 30th September, 2018, a sum of N457, 312,000.00 had been disbursed to seven (7) SMEs and fifty-three (53) cooperative business groups. A total of 799 jobs had been created as at the stated date.
INTRODUCTION OF THE USE OF STANDARDIZED WEIGHING SCALES IN MARKETS IN THE STATE
The introduction of standardized Weights and Measures for use in all markets in the State is essentially in keeping with the OMOLUABI concept and to put effect to the strong conviction of the administration that Government must be a defender and promoter of social conscience which makes ethical behaviour in all human interactions sacrosanct and non-negotiable. The introduction of standardised Weights and Measures is a proactive response to the growing need for accuracy of measurements, better packaging and display of consumable goods in ways that will safeguard health and promote cordial social interactions between buyers and sellers in all commercial transactions in the State. It is also part of efforts geared towards making the State a regional hub for commerce in the South-Western region of Nigeria. Concerted efforts had been made to ensure the acceptance of the use of scales in line with global best commercial practice and realisation of the stated objective. Notable among these are the constructive engagement of all critical stakeholders, training of the intended users in the right use and maintenance of the scales, training of youths in the repair of the scales and intensive mass media publicity to create public awareness on the initiative. Furthermore, appropriate weighing scales are made available to market women and men at affordable rates. By and large, the efforts are steadily yielding desired results and it is believed that there shall be full compliance with the use of the scales very soon.
STATE OF OSUN-GROOMING CENTRE PARTNERSHIP ON MICRO LOAN SCHEME FOR WOMEN
In November, 2013, the State Government of Osun entered into partnership with the Grooming Centre to appropriately address the difficulties which low income (poor) women encounter in accessing credit facilities for their micro businesses. The simple, transparent and accountable methodology which the Scheme employs in credit administration and management has given a boost to the quantum of beneficiaries. The thrust of the Programme is to ensure that financial services that are provided reach the poor but economically active women, support building financially self-sufficient institutions and ensure a positive and measurable impact on the lives of beneficiaries and their households.
At the inception of the Scheme, the State Government contributed a sum of N200 million while the Grooming Centre provided N400 million which were pooled for provision of revolving loans to the target beneficiaries. Loans had been severally recycled with tremendous positive impact on the State economy. The amount disbursed had grown astronomically to N3, 104,855,800.00 as at now.
The summary of the performance of the Programme from 2014 to date is captured in the following table:
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
No of LGAs
27
30
30
30
30
No of Branches
18
18
27
29
29
No of groups
301
345
325
340
347
Total Loanees
(Beneficiaries)
6,985
18,220
30,565
43,078
46468
Amount Disbursed(N)
327,168,900.00
1,020,117,100.00
1,830,193,200.00
2,820,480,000.00
3,104,855,800.00
Loan Recovery rate (%)
100
99,98
99.91
99.53
98.04
TEXTILE DEALERS’ EMPOWERMENT SCHEME
Textile dealers in the State were initially empowered to the tune of N50million to enable them key into the sale of school uniforms to pupils and students in public schools in the State. Presently, the turnover has risen above N200million. In order to facilitate easy access to the uniforms by the textile dealers, shops, designated as Omoluabi Stores†were opened in the Local Government Areas. This initiative has led to the creation of 1,140 direct and indirect jobs.
COCOYAM OFF-TAKERS’ EMPOWERMENT SCHEME
As part of the exit programmes for cadets of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O-YES), 332 cadets were empowered to the tune of N33,200,000.00 to off-take cocoyam from farmers and supply to food vendors under the State O-Meal programme.
TRANSPORTERS’ EMPOWERMENT SCHEMES
Three Transporters’ Empowerment Schemes were put in place to boost transport business and ease public commuting significantly. In the first Scheme, forty transporter-indigenes of the State who operate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were empowered by way of soft loans to the tune of N106,000,000.00 to procure new taxis. Under the second Scheme, 70 new 14-seater Toyota Hiace buses were distributed to members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) as soft loans in kind to the tune of N385 million. The third Scheme is that of empowerment of operators of intra-city mini-buses. Under this Scheme, sixty-two (62) new mini-buses were supplied as soft loans in kind to the tune of N108, 500,000.00 to members of the Cooperative Transporters’ Association and the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).
COOPERATIVE SECTOR RESTRUCTURING AND GROWTH
As a matter of deliberate policy, the Aregbesola administration decided to make cooperative societies the platform for extending credit facilities to micro and small enterprises. For this to yield the desired result of rapidly growing this class of enterprises, it became necessary to restructure the cooperative sector in the State. The restructuring was successfully carried out in 2012. One of the significant outcomes of the restructuring exercise is the phenomenal growth of the sector in the last eight years of the administration. Prior to the advent of the administration, the total number of registered cooperative societies in the State was 9,359. As at 30th September, 2018, the number had risen to 24,644 meaning that 15,285 societies were registered during the tenure of Aregbesola administration alone.
CONCLUSION
The highlighted efforts of the State Government, among others, have started yielding fruitful results. The support to MSMEs has led to an increase in the number these classes of enterprises from the 2010 figure of 481,451 to 1,358,446 as at September, 2018. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the State had increased from N191.1 billion to N398 billion over the same period. The latest reports of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) classify Osun as the State with the lowest poverty rate in Nigeria.
There is no doubt that the Aregbesola administration has laid a solid foundation and has gone ahead to put firm super structure on the foundation to ensure an enduring socio-economic development of the State. The administration is bequeathing a legacy of unparalleled commitment to rapid transformation of the State of Osun to succeeding administrations. It is indeed heart-warming that the incoming administration is that of our party, the All Progressives’ Party (APC). The continuity of the progressive legacy of Aregbesola administration is therefore assured. Gentlemen of the Press, I want to, very sincerely, appreciate you for your generally fair and objective report of the activities of this administration in the last eight years. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that we shall remain partners in progress
I thank you for your kind attention.
www. sojworld.com (c) November 5, 2018
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