A member of the House of Representatives, Mansur Soro, has attributed the low production output of small and medium businesses in Nigeria to inadequate funding over the years.
This is just as he said the challenge regarding power has been one of the major problems facing SMEs in Nigeria and increasing tariffs will escalate it.
Soro, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party and Chairman of the House Committee on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, also lamented the below-average attention successive administrations paid to the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency over the years.
The lawmaker who represents Darazo/Ganjuwa Federal Constituency, Bauchi State stated these in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Monday.
Emphasising the role of small business in the growth of any nation, the federal lawmaker said, “SMEs world over are indispensable to economic developments but the question is, are we giving them the required attention in Nigeria? The answer is no. The SME sector is grossly underfunded by the government. This has been the case over the years.”
He added that part of the Federal Government’s little interest in the sector comes from a lack of information on the significance of small business operations in the life of the nation’s economy.
This is just as he hinted that the committee he chairs, was collaborating with stakeholders to carry out an awareness campaign nationwide to change the narrative.
“A lot of sensitisation is needed in this regard. We are working with SMEDAN in engaging relevant stakeholders, especially the sub-nationals and the National Orientation Agency in driving this sensitisation,” he added.
On the planned increase of electricity tariff by the Federal Government slated for March, Soro warned of the dire consequences of such an action on small businesses, even as he called on the President Bola Tinubu-led government to come up with an initiative to cater for the needs of SMEs.
“The challenge regarding power has been one of the major problems facing SMEs in Nigeria. So, increasing tariffs will no doubt, escalate it. I have maintained several times that we have to go renewable.
“Government at all levels must prioritise SME common facility centres or industrial development centres at the states and power them with solar energy to mitigate the challenge and reduce the cost of production,” he added, lamenting however that “When you check the Federal Government’s budget for 2025, you will realise that we are not ready to do this.”
Soro added that SMEDAN’s budget performance in 2024 is understandable given the poor releases for capital expenditure by the government.
“The agency’s 2024 capital budget performance at the end of the financial year was put at a mere 25 per cent performance or so and you can’t blame them because there wasn’t funding.
“There’s has never been a year in recent history that budget implementation suffers like the 2024 fiscal year,” he said, calling for stakeholders’ input on how best to get more funding for the sector.
“Stakeholders need to come together to agree on a funds release system that can work effectively for the good of the country,” he advised.
