The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has announced a landmark shift in its 2026 strategic goals, prioritizing the economic reintegration of prison inmates and a comprehensive, grassroots-led review of the National MSME Policy.
Speaking at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, the Director General of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, revealed that the agency recorded significant milestones in 2025, including the creation of over 90,000 direct jobs and the disbursement of ₦12 billion in affordable financing.
Breaking the Stigma: Skills for Inmates
He said, a centerpiece of the 2026 agenda is a new rehabilitative policy designed to curb the stigma surrounding formerly incarcerated individuals. Under this initiative, SMEDAN will enter correctional facilities to provide vocational training to inmates six months to a year before their scheduled release.
“Many [former inmates] have complained to us that because of the stigma… many people don’t want to touch them,” Odii stated.
He explained that the agency is setting criteria—including remorsefulness and cultural alignment—to encourage small business owners to hire these individuals, effectively “injecting” them back into the workforce as employable citizens.
2025 Performance Review
The Director General highlighted a series of data-driven achievements from the past year that set the stage for upcoming reforms:
Employment: 90,162 direct jobs created across various sectors.
Formalization: 263,454 businesses registered to ensure long-term growth.
Financial Support: 18,339 nano-MSMEs received conditional grants, while 3,100 cooperatives benefited from financial aid.
Resource Distribution: 200,000 work tools were distributed to small business owners.
A Grassroots National Policy for 2026
With the current five-year National MSME Policy set to expire on December 31, 2025, SMEDAN has commenced a review process to draft the 2026–2031 framework.
Odii emphasized that the new policy will not be written “behind a desk” in Abuja. Instead, the agency is calling for direct input from entrepreneurs across the 36 states and the FCT.
“We want small businesses to be involved,” Odii said. “This is the time we want to hear from them. The link is on our website… we want to know the policies that do not work for them.”
Infrastructure and Future Outlook
In addition to policy reforms, SMEDAN plans to upgrade and modernize 23 Industrial Development Centres (IDCs) nationwide.
The modernization aims to align these centers with international best practices at no cost to users, further lowering the barrier to entry for Nigerian manufacturers.
The draft of the revised MSME policy is expected to be presented to the President following a final consultative round with stakeholders.
He said over 40,000 businesses were trained to harness global market opportunities.
