MSME to get N10m collateral-free loans.

MSME to get N10m collateral-free loans.Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says the Federal Government is working towards providing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) a credit facility of N2 million to N10 million without collateral. Osibanjo made the disclosure on Wednesday at a dinner/ maiden edition of the MSMEs Award 2018 held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja. The awards packaged by the Office of the Vice-President and supported by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, got over 300 nominations across the nation. Osinbajo had in 2017 launched the MSME Clinic as part of efforts to encourage the contributions of MSMEs to Nigeria’s economic growth. The acting president said he was delighted to reward and recognise outstanding MSME as they represent remarkable examples of Nigerian entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation. According to him, efforts are underway to double government’s commitment to ensuring that MSME find an enabling environment to thrive. He said that in addition to the one-stop-shop launched in some states to carry the MSME clinics intervention, the Federal Government would soon launch its shared facilities for MSMEs initiative. Osinbajo said the initiative would be in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BOI), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). “This initiatives will provide MSME access to fully equipped cluster style facilities for which they can pay an affordable fee to operate. “These facilities would have been pre-certified by relevant agencies like NAFDAC, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and NEPC thereby removing the layers of bureaucracy that in the past held back many aspiring entrepreneurs.

RABIES AND DOG IMPORTATION.

Dog breeders and pet lovers and owners have been warned continuously of dangers associated with dog importation.The breeders are supposed to ensure the dogs get the necessary vaccinations before they are sold and shipped off, but some mischievous breeders/puppy mill merchants dont vaccinate these pets thus exposing the pet lovers to a risk.The pets that are shipped branding certificates are often times discovered to be fake, thus strict documentation laws must be ensured and vaccination records verified to ensure safety. There has been cases of shipping off animals to other countries which were incubating various pathogens, a recent case is the rabid dog shipped to the US from Egypt (as reported by STAT http://www.statnews.com/2015/12/17/rabies-dog-cdc/) The rabid dog was transported into the country in May by an animal rescue organization. It was later discovered the dog’s rabies vaccination certificate was a fake, CDC officials said .It’s the fourth time — that officials know of — in the last 11 years that a rabid dog has been imported to the United States. Ten people who had substantial contact with the animal were advised to get post-exposure rabies treatment and eight more involved in its importation opted to get vaccinated as a precaution, CDC and state health department officials wrote in a report on the incident published in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a journal operated by the CDC.‘There’s no shortage of adoptable dogs in the US’ Dr. Nicky Cohen said the CDC issued guidelines last year to spell out what is needed, from a rabies control standpoint, to import companion animals to the United States. Chief among them: an authentic rabies vaccination certificate. It also pointed out some red flags to look for on rabies vaccination certificates to spot fakes — things like multiple dogs in a shipment having identical certificates or evidence that a dog’s name has been whited out. “It’s pretty basic,” Cohen admitted. “There have been four incidences where rabid dogs have been imported. But we do know that more dogs than just these four have been imported with falsified records. This was issued in response to the recognition of imported dogs with falsified vaccination records.”The dog from Egypt was part of a shipment of eight dogs and 27 cats. It was the only animal in the shipment that was infected.