By Daniel Essiet
The President, Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN), Prince Saviour Iche, has urged the government to provide financial assistance to small businesses to continue paying employees’ wages while recovering from the impact of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
This is because so many small businesses had closed their operations in compliance with the government’s directive locking down commercial activities to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Although the government has reopened the economy, Iche said some businesses were away from shutting down completely. He said some businesses will not be able to come back from their current deficit having not been able to benefit from the federal government’s stimulus support.
He noted that the pandemic had greatly hurt small businesses. He urged the government to provide small businesses loans to fund the costs of operation and production with flexible terms and low interest rates.
This, he added, would help business owners deal with the impacts of the coronavirus crisis, including low liquidity, trouble paying salaries for workers and difficulty meeting diverse financial obligations.
He said it would preserve the temporary and permanent labour opportunities the businesses provide.
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