The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has taken a major step towards the actualisation of the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in relation to job creation.

To address the twin challenges of poverty and unemployment, the Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Abia State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission (ASOPADEC), a body also set up to deepen the industrialisation drive in the state.

The objective of the collaboration, according to the MOU, was to intervene and redefine positively, “the living conditions of the catchment communities of the oil-producing areas of Abia State through skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development programmes.”

SMEDAN is billed to conduct sensitisation and needs assessment for prospective participants who will be formed into cooperatives, provide entrepreneurial training and execute effective support services to identified participants while ASOPADEC will present the participants to be trained as well as consult with SMEDAN to identify vocational trades needed for the trainees.

Commending the Abia State government for the courage and political will to deepen the industrial drive of the state, the SMEDAN’s Director-General, Alhaji Muhammed Nadada Umar, said that signing of the MOU committed all parties to the development and improvement in the lives of the people of the state.

Speaking, the Chairman of ASOPADEC, Chief Sam Nwogu, described the collaboration with SMEDAN as a turning point in the history of the Commission, which he said was established by an Act of the Abia State government to make a difference in the oil-producing areas of the state through skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development programmes.