NASME charges govt on incentives, access to finance

The Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) has urged the Federal Government support the growth of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by providing incentives, finance and also creating access to market for goods produced by small businesses.

The President and chairman of council, NASME, Alhaji Ibrahim Garba, said the sector is yet to reach its full potential, calling on the federal government to focus on diversifying the economy especially with global oil prices trending below $30 per barrel.

Garba during NASME’s 7th yearly general meeting, said access to power, finance and markets are still challenges to MSME development in Nigeria, saying that the N220 billion released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to support the sector is plagued with stringent conditions with bulk of the money still in the CBN vaults.

In his words: “Locally produced goods are still unable to compete due to many factors. We need to encourage small enterprises by giving them incentives to bring in new technologies to produce cheap. We need to also create a market for the SMEs and the government must play a big role here to make sure locally produced goods are patronized by the government and the citizenry.

“I can only say we are trying but we have not reached the optimal level but I think we can do more. I have to give credit to the current administration for setting up the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) council, which is the highest body in the council handling SME issues. The government is paying so much attention to this sector because we have to diversify the economy to generate more foreign exchange for the economy and you know most these SMEs are in the agricultural sector. However, I will use this opportunity to call on the incoming council to pursue access to finance as a sector agenda”.

The NASME boss said power supply is still an enduring problem that needs to be addressed if MSMEs are supposed to take their rightful place in the economy.

He stated that the impact of the N220 billion released by the CBN where each State is entitled to N2 billion is yet to be felt by some States.

He pointed that the Nigeria economy is in dire straits with the potential to get worse if sound political and economic judgement is not brought to bear on the affairs of the State, saying that with the nation’s foreign reserves significantly depleted, a huge population and oil prices crashing daily for a mono-product economy like Nigeria, the impact is only imagined if all the fundamentals, including human discipline are not mustered to manage the situation.