NECA seeks increase in N75 billion intervention fund

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has called on the Federal Government to increase the current N75 billion intervention fund to businesses to ensure credits are substantial enough to trigger increased activities among beneficiary small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Director-General/Chief Executive, NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said this as the Federal Government, through the Bank of Industry (BoI), has launched the N75 billion MSME intervention fund to support 75 million MSMEs with an N1 million low-interest loan.

The BoI announced the opening of its application portal for interested businesses, a development Oyerinde said attracted both resections and commendations from various economic stakeholders.

He commended the Federal Government on the positive measures toward the sustainability of small businesses in the economy, particularly at this time that they are grappling with adjustments in the economy.

However, he urged the BoI to carry out broader consultation of the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) to ensure that bona-fide small and medium enterprises would benefit from the intervention.

Stating that the performance of the SME sector in Nigeria speaks volumes of its huge potential to grow and sustain the economy given the right operating atmosphere, he stressed that most of the big companies can sustain and expand production in the industrial economies because of the existence of robust SMEs, which produce and supply intermediate goods to the large firms.

He noted that the traditional commercial bank loans, with about 30 per cent interest rate fell far out of the kind of credit needed to support activities of small businesses anywhere in the world.

The NECA boss underscored the critical importance of relevant interventions to support the growth and development of SMEs in the country.

According to him, SMEs account for 96 per cent of all businesses in the country, their share of employment is about 84 per cent, just as their contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) is about 40 per cent.