The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has re-launched the One Village One Product (OLOP) programme.
Declaring the programme open in Kaduna on Monday, the Director-General of SMEDAN, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Finance and Administration, Malam Ibrahim Shehu, said the agency was re-launching the OLOP programme in line with the vision of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERPG) of the Federal Government.
In a statement released by the agency, Radda said OLOP is a rural economy revitalization plan built around the well known drivers of its globally renowned equivalent One Village One Product which originated from Japan.
He told the desk officers who were being trained for the programme that the One Local Government One Product as the name suggests is a process in which each local government identifies a valuable local resource in which it has competitive and comparative advantage.
He said the programme is focused on identifying local distinctiveness, value-addition, branding and market access. The director general reiterated that OLOP would enable the agency achieve the goal of identifying and galvanizing rural communities around their natural endowment for wealth creation.
Dr Radda also pointed out that senatorial districts would be used as the platform for selection of products.
He said the agency would be anticipating 109 products from 109 senatorial districts across the federation including the FCT, adding that the programme would primarily focus on cooperatives duly registered with the relevant bodies to reduce MSME mortality and ensure competitiveness.
The agency has since commenced the training of MSMEs’ officers nationwide for the implementation of its One Local Government One Product Programme to build the capacity of field officers with the necessary tools required to assist the various cooperatives.
