{"id":76874,"date":"2025-10-18T05:19:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=76874"},"modified":"2025-10-18T05:19:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:19:39","slug":"informal-sector-heartbeat-of-nigerias-economy-shettima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/10\/18\/informal-sector-heartbeat-of-nigerias-economy-shettima\/","title":{"rendered":"Informal Sector, Heartbeat of Nigeria\u2019s Economy -Shettima"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vice President Kashim Shettima has described Nigeria\u2019s informal sector as the \u201cheartbeat of the economy,\u201d emphasizing its critical role in sustaining livelihoods and driving national productivity.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Abuja at the presentation of the Informal Economy Report 2025 by Moniepoint Microfinance Bank in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Shettima said the Tinubu administration prioritizes the sector as a pillar of economic resilience.<\/p>\n

Represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the Vice President said millions of Nigerians, from market traders to artisans and digital entrepreneurs, sustain daily commerce through the informal economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe informal economy lies at the heart of Nigeria\u2019s story of resilience, creativity, and enterprise.<\/p>\n

“Millions of Nigerians power commerce daily in ways that are unseen yet indispensable to our economy,\u201d Shettima stated.<\/p>\n

He commended Moniepoint for its decade-long contribution to financial inclusion, noting that the report offers valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges shaping informal businesses.<\/p>\n

The report revealed that informal business costs have risen by 80% in the past year due to inflation and operational constraints.<\/p>\n

However, it also showed that women remain the dominant and most resilient players in the sector, with youth participation rapidly expanding.<\/p>\n

Highlighting the significance of small enterprises, Shettima said Nigeria is home to over 39 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), representing 96% of all businesses, contributing about 50% to GDP, and employing 84% of the nation\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, the Managing Director of Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, Babatunde Olofin, described the report as \u201ca mirror of Nigeria\u2019s economic reality,\u201d urging policymakers to use it as a guide for inclusive financial development.<\/p>\n

The Director-General of SMEDAN, Charles Odii, disclosed that the agency, in collaboration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), has commenced free registration for 250,000 informal businesses to encourage formalization and access to government support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are formalizing small businesses at no cost to help them gain identity, access finance, and benefit from government interventions,\u201d Odii said.<\/p>\n

He added that small enterprises earning below \u20a615 million annually are now exempted from company income tax.<\/p>\n

Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, lauded Moniepoint for empowering millions of small business owners through affordable financing and digital support tools.<\/p>\n

The event ended with calls for stronger collaboration between government, financial institutions, and entrepreneurs to fortify Nigeria\u2019s informal economy, the true engine of growth and national stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ade Iyamoye\u00a0 Vice President Kashim Shettima has described Nigeria\u2019s informal sector as the \u201cheartbeat of the economy,\u201d emphasizing its critical role in sustaining livelihoods and driving national productivity. Speaking in Abuja at the presentation of the Informal Economy Report 2025 by Moniepoint Microfinance Bank in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":76875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76876,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76874\/revisions\/76876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}