Stakeholders in the business sector have decried the lack of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs friendly policies such as multiple taxation, access to finance and free interest loans as well as ease of doing business in the country.
They made this known during an International Summit and Exhibition in Abuja with the theme: “Economic Reforms and MSME Development for Maximizing Diversification, Opportunities for Indigenous Businesses.”
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, NASME, Mr. Ubadigbo Okonkwo called on the Association to work with the Bank of Industry to ensure that MSMEs benefit from available government interventions.
Okonkwo also urged CBN to stop what he described as being a referee and a player in the same field.
He said: “I believe that all their development finance functions should be transferred to the DFIs in the country particularly the Bank of Industry, DBN NEXIM, BOI and the rest of them.
“The theme of this year’s Summit: “economic reforms and MSME development for maximizing classification opportunities for indigenous businesses”, is a highly important theme. What I want to say is where we are as a country, what reforms we have implemented, and the way, going forward.
“In May, last year, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration made a very strong start by adopting two bold policy reforms that his predecessors had brushed under the carpet. Namely, fuel subsidy removal, and unification of official exchange rates. The government also took measures to improve the fiscal performance of the economy by spending more on health and education. A new team in the central bank of Nigeria, has I believe, rightly decided to focus on its core mission of price stability and fighting inflation and to exit from development finance.”
He called on the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises to collaborate with SMEDAN to ensure an enabling business environment in the Country.
The President, Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, NASME, Dr. Abdulrashid Yerima said apart frNASME distributing machines and equipment to its members in the rural areas, the organization was also facilitating one million Naira loans for SMEs in the 774 Local Government areas.
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“I was the special guest of honour at the unveiling of the 300 billion naira to manufacturers last week by the office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We have done quite a lot this year alone we have given sewing machines, vulcanizer equipment, welding machines, salon equipment, and others to MSMEs in the rural area in the 774 local governments, we also facilitated 50 thousand naira grants, currently we’re also facilitating the 1 million Naira no loan at 9 percent interest rate in all the 774 local governments because we have been accepted as the national Association of Small and Medium Enterprises”.
Dr. Yerima urged the government to increase its finances, provide free interest loans, and address issues related to the cost of transportation and power which affects the ease of doing business.
He advised SMEs not to lose hope but to support the government.
The Chairman of NASME in Rivers State, Dogara Sakpege, said the State component had commenced activities to empower Small business owners and gave an assurance that messages from the Summit would be conveyed to members at the State and rural areas.
He said: “The event falls in line with what they at Rivers State were trying to do, which is identifying micro/small business owners in grassroots areas and onboard them into things that are happening in the state. This way, they’ll be able to impact a higher number of MSMEs at the grassroots level, more effectively which will in turn create more jobs at that level in the state, and since this is what the summit is focusing on, it’ll be easier for them to replicate same when they return to tell the much they’ve learned from the summit.
“Some of the key areas they onboard MSME people into are tailoring, processing, production etc.
“What we do is that, since some of them are afraid of producing due to lack of NAFDAC, S.O.N., and other regulatory agencies registration, we (Rivers State NASME) rather encourage them to go ahead as we help them attain the requisite standards to get approval from relevant agencies to enable their products compete favourably in the markets”.
The Director General of Small and Medium MEDEN, Mr Charles Odii, represented at the summit by the Director, Engineering, Technology and Infrastructure, Engineer Anthony Igba, described the summit as an avenue to share information, to ensure MSMEs’ growth, and work together to address economic challenges and develop a model for local content.
A representative of the Director General of NAFDAC, Hajiya Gire Aisha said the agency was collaborating with a lot of SmMEs. She explained that the agency had rolled out different measures to cushion the effect of the current economic challenges faced in the business sector.