bbles the Legals State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Corporatives Mrs. Mola Akundi. The Legals State A.P.C. Chairman Mr. Babatunde Balomu. My agent director, Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe and the Chairman of the Keja Local Government, Engineer Mojit Balomu. Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very pleased to join you today for this commissioning and handing over ceremony of yet another shared facility for MSMEs. This time it is the eco-MSME Fashion Hub 1 in Legals State. Let me begin by delivering a message from President Mohammad Ubuhari who sends his very warm regards and congratulations to the government of Legals State. The President has also asked me to urge more states to emulate this collaboration between the federal and state governments and the private sector for the benefit of our people. The eco-MSME Fashion Hub 1 being commissioned today, which is strategically located by the old Aladdin market just off Allen Avenue Roundabout, one of the leading commercial hubs on the continent. It is equipped with first class machines and equipment and I'm told that it will service 380 MSMEs daily and 1136 every year. The choice of Aladdin market and the General Aladdin Avenue area was unanimous arising from extensive consultations between the federal government's MSME clinics project and the Legals State government and the fashion cluster in Legals. With the launch of the eco-MSME Fashion Hub 1, MSMEs in and around Ikeja will no longer have to travel far to use equipment that is expensive for individual businesses to procure by themselves such as those for making buttonholes, monogramming and other such specialized tailoring activities. With its full-scale production line, this hub will enable production of a diverse range of clothing and garments, wedding dresses, military uniforms, office wear and similar products. Very soon the products of the hub will be ubiquitous on the streets and on the stores around the country. The fashion industry will be one of Nigeria's biggest sources of revenues and I can assure you much bigger than all of us we see today. The shared facility scheme which we are launching today and this particular one is the one for Legals but we have a whole scheme. The scheme itself covers a wide range of shared facilities of various kinds but this one, the Fashion Hub is the latest example and it seeks to provide high quality operating equipment which small businesses can access at a reasonable cost within a conducive space. The facilities generally help reduce operating costs for users allowing them to invest their savings in expanding their businesses and hiring more staff. A few months ago I had the privilege of presiding over the launch of a similar shared facility for young farmers in Benway State. Distinguished guest ladies and gentlemen, this year, 2020 has been a difficult one for the entire world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and it of course has been a very difficult one for Nigerian businesses as well. Businesses small and large have been significantly impacted by the disruptions. As you all know MSMEs are the engine of the Nigerian economy. When they thrive, the economy thrives. When they struggle, the economy struggles. This is why the federal government is deeply committed to ensuring that we incrementally create the best possible environment for MSMEs to do well. The administration is doing this in various ways from improving access to credit through the central bank, Development Bank of Nigeria and the Bank of Industry and others. Several of our development banks several of even our commercial banks are being committed to ensuring access to capital for small businesses and there are several initiatives that have also supported small businesses in various ways. For example our Finance Act has exempted businesses generating less than 25 million nair in annual turnover from companies income tax. Those with a turnover of between 25 million and 100 million will only pay 20% in corporate income tax instead of 30% which was the former rate payable. And then of course there is the MSME Clinics Initiative which is extending business support services to small businesses across the country and of which this shared facility scheme is a core component. Most recently President Buhari approved the implementation of a very important initiative known as the survival fund for the MSME sector the survival fund for the MSME sector. This is being implemented and I'm sure you heard the Honourable Minister of State for industry trade and investment who is the chair talking about this fund. As part of the and this is part of the economic sustainability plan put together to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. Under the survival fund is a payroll support scheme to provide up to 50,000 naira in monthly salaries for up to 10 staff of qualifying MSME businesses for a period of three months. The whole idea is to ensure that MSMEs do not lay off their staff and the way to do so, Government's way of ensuring that this doesn't happen is by this payroll support scheme MSMEs will benefit once they can show once they make certain criteria which the Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment has already put out to the public. There's also a 50,000 naira grant for 100,000 small and medium scale businesses while 330,000 self-employed persons working as artisans and transporters will benefit from a one-off grant of 30,000 naira. Moreover, the President has approved that the Federal Government should bear the full cost of business name registration for 250,000 new businesses nationwide. We're doing all this to support the MSMEs across the country to maintain their staffing levels and to keep their businesses afloat through these very challenging times. We are committed to incrementally improving on the support that we are giving businesses and MSMEs. The ESP, the Economic Sustainability Plan is not the end of the process. As a matter of fact, it is to stimulate the process and the Federal Government is committed to ensuring that MSMEs survive in every way and we continue to look at new and creative ways of ensuring the support for the MSME sector. Let me thank the Honorable Minister of Industry Trade and Investment and the Honorable Minister of State Industry Trade and Investment who chairs this important committee on the survival fund for their great dedication and commitment to the MSME clinics and to this project in particular. I would also like to commend my brother the Governor of Lagos State, his Excellency Governor for his leadership and the unflinching support that he has given to this project. I also want to say to him that I take off the challenge of establishing MSMEs in all the territorial zones of Lagos. So long as we have the partnership of Lagos State the strong and able partnership of Lagos State I believe that nothing is impossible and we must look at this as one way to ensure that the development of Nigeria gets the best possible support for its MSMEs. I congratulate you Mr. Governor and the people of Lagos on the successful completion and on today's commissioning. I also commend and congratulate all our MSME clinic partners and everyone that has worked to make this possible. These are still early days and we are eagerly looking forward to the commissioning of MSMEs in Kaduna, Anambra and the FCT before the end of the year. I want to commend also the Access Bank for the very great support that they have continuously rendered to MSMEs all over the country especially their support for technology companies and start-ups. I want to commend them and also to encourage all other commercial banks to join in this effort to provide as much support as is possible for this sector of our economy which is the engine of growth of our economy. It is therefore my very special pleasure to commission this fashion cluster shared facility for MSMEs the eco fashion hub one at the Aladeh Market in Kaduna, Lagos State on this 18th day of September 2020 to the glory of the almighty God and for the benefit of the people of Lagos State especially workers in the fashion industry and all across the country. Thank you and God bless you all.