Stakeholders have urged support for small businesses to thrive, as their contributions to tackling unemployment in Nigeria is vital.

Chief Executive Officer of Jordan 105.5 FM in Lagos, Lanre Johnson, stated this in a statement, yesterday, at a sensitisation programme for Automobile Technicians and Fashion Designers on E-Naira and Digital Economy, organised in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Lagos.

Johnson said small businesses should be the biggest contributors to the country’s economy, as they contribute 80 per cent of employment opportunities in the country.

He said: “As an entrepreneurship station, we have done our research in Nigeria. We have over 40 million small businesses and when you look at their contributions to the nation’s economy, they are very low. Yet, they are the major contributors, as they provide 80 per cent of jobs in the country, and their contribution to employment sector is about 85 per cent.”

On the impact of technology on small businesses, the Jordan FM boss said the E-naira would play a huge role in taking them from the informal sector to the formal sector.

Oral Chijioke from the Information Technology Department of the CBN said that the level of awareness is getting higher with the sensitisation programme.

Lagos State Chairman of Nigerian Automobile Technician Association (NATA), Egberoungbe Moruf, who expressed optimism about the E-naira, said it would help all artisans in their means of transactions and they are ready to embrace it.

On his part, President of Shoe Makers Associations in Lagos, Yisiru Bello, said the technology would introduce artisans to the next level in business transactions, as it will open doors to the international market as well as the online market.