 I bring you the very warm greetings of the President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Mohamed Buhari, whose love and appreciation of the people of Jigawa State is very well known to all of us. And I'm glad to be here in Jigawa State, Dutze, the capital of the great new world, Jigawa State. And we are here today to flag off the 28th edition of the National MSME Clinics. The MSME Clinic is a federal government initiative to work with state governments to promote and support small and medium businesses. And it is appropriate and fitting that we should do this here, that we should actually have this event here. Jigawa State continues to be a pace-setter in agriculture and rural development. It is, as you well know, currently Nigeria's largest producer of dates and high-discourse. The state is also the second largest producer of gum arabic and sesame seed. And it is one of the top three rice-producing states in the country. But more importantly, it has proved itself to be one of the top three most attractive states in Nigeria for small and medium businesses. As some of us will know, Jigawa was rated number three of the 56 states in Abuja in the ease of doing business rankings conducted for the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council. By the Iraqis who are not burnt down by Jigawa State, it was done by the consulting firm, the international consulting firm, KPMG. And I suspect that the calculating governor might be planning to make the state also a tourism destination, as only recently he inaugurated the tallest national flight in Nigeria, which is 5.3 feet high. His account is 5.3 feet high. And this, as you know, is in the form of one of our respected chiefs of the APC, Anmou Farouk and Niveau. Which firm is also an investment, a major investment, in this state, in Jigawa State. So it's on account of the proactive stance of the governor that we also chose to perform the national launch of the deployment of 100,000 solar home systems under the Solar Power Nigeria program here in Jigawa State, in the Jangefe community, the Rani local government, and Kazara Emirate, when I visited Jigawa State in April this year. So let me also take this opportunity to congratulate and commend his excellency governor, Padaro Abu Bakar, and his hardworking team for this great surprise in a few short years. Their dedication to duty and the quality of service to the good people of this state is really worthy of emulation. The obvious reason, I'm sure that we all know, that the very obvious reason for MSME clinics and the support that the federal government gives them is because MSMEs are, without a doubt, the engine of growth in any economy. MSMEs also employ the largest number of people. So the MSME clinics were designed to bring the regulatory agencies whose work affects the business experience of MSMEs to meet with MSMEs in the same venue. So I am here today with NAFDAQ, with CAC, with SON, with NEPC, with Bank of Industry, with FIRS. All these regulatory agencies are here with me in Jigawa State today. As part of this clinic, because this is the opportunity that MSMEs have to bring their business problems to the attention of the regulatory agencies for solution. And this is outside the formal and sometimes intimidating head offices of these agencies. So also, by bringing the regulatory authority directly to the MSMEs, they, that is the MSMEs, MSMEs, are safe the cost of moving between different agency offices, which are not even always in the same time. So MSME clinics have also helped the regulatory agencies on their part to gain a better understanding of the difficulties that MSMEs face and how to improve their services to help these small businesses. So usually the MSME clinics are for two days, but we realize that all the needs and queries of small businesses cannot be met in a two-day period, which is why we also encourage state governments to establish MSME one-stop shops. These are buildings provided by the state governments to house all our MSME partners under the same roof, so that the small businesses can access their services continuously and more readily and more cheaply. As part of the clinics, we also have facilities described as shared facilities for MSMEs. This is yet another innovation. Now these facilities are provided to small businesses or to small business clusters by the federal government. And what it usually involves is this installation of specialized machinery that can be used or rented for short periods by business owners. Such facilities spare the MSMEs, the financial burden of having to purchase their own equipment while giving them access to top-flight equipment. And one of the things, for example, you could have a shared facility. We have one that was built in Benway State. This is a YAM storage facility. And all farmers can use that same storage facility. It has all the state-of-the-art equipment for ensuring that YAMs are stored and are kept for long periods of time. One single farmer may not be able to afford those facilities, so we give them one facility that has all the equipment. And this is the sort of thing that we've done in other states and we hope we'll be able to do here also in Jigawa State. The President has reiterated several times that his main focus is on ensuring that small businesses are given the best possible support, which explains why in response to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and especially on small businesses, the President established the Economic Sustainability Committee, which I have the privilege of chairing, with a mandate to draw up an Economic Sustainability Plan to tackle the negative effects on individuals, on health and the economy. The plan was to save jobs and create new opportunities. And one of the interventions in the plan was what we describe as the MSME Survival Fund. This survival fund was designed by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and they were executed by the Honourable Minister of State Industry, Trade and Investment Ambassador, Maryam Khattaboum, who is here with us today. The MSME Survival Fund consisted of a payroll support scheme for qualifying businesses, a guaranteed off-take scheme, a grant scheme for artisans and transporters and free business name registration for 250,000 applicants. Under the payroll support component of the plan, so far 459,307 employees have been successfully paid between 30,000 and 50,000 Naira over a period of three months. The target beneficiaries of the scheme include private school teachers, hotel workers, road transport industry personnel, creative industry people and various others. And there is a painstaking and rigorous verification process. There is also the track for artisans and transporters known as the artisan and transporters grant. And we targeted 330,000 artisans and transporters to date about 265,425 artisans have been successfully paid under that scheme. For the general MSME grants, it is also part of this scheme, out of the 100,000 targeted beneficiaries, so far we've been able to pay about 44,000 and they've been paid across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. So through the payroll support program, we were able to help businesses across sectors to keep their employees and in the same vein, artisans and transporters got support to help them overcome the negative impact of the pandemic on their livelihoods. So MSMEs in Jigawa State also benefited fully from all tracks of the survival fund and we believe that several of them were able to benefit across the tracks with the total support that we're able to give all business owners and employees alike. Now today after going round with His Excellency the Governor to see the different businesses exhibiting their products and services and there's an incredible number of excellent businesses that we're able to see together. Covering a wide range of activities, just a wide range of activities, even from smart computing to those who are making spices to those who are making furniture, those who are making chalk, all manner of businesses. I want to further and show participants that every effort will be made to address the challenges and bottlenecks that they may be facing. I must also encourage you to bring any of the issues, especially the issues to do with approvals and all of that, to the attention of the MSME Clinic Secretary between today and tomorrow to get assistance and quick responses from some of the relevant agencies. So in conclusion, let me again commend my dear brother Governor Abu Bakr, Governor Bader Abu Bakr and the entire Jigawa State Government for their massive efforts to grow the state's economy and improve the lives of citizens of the state. Clearly these efforts are already bearing fruit and small businesses, medium businesses in Jigawa State will be the better for it. Please be assured that the federal government will continue to complement and support the work that you are doing here in this state. Thank you very much.