Bimbola Oyesola
The Federal Government has been charged to prevail upon the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to back down on the policy demanding Micro Finance Banks to recapitalise to N200 million from N20 million.
The Organised Private Sector (OPS) which gave the advice warned that government’s failure to heed its call may signal the end of many Medium and Small Scale Enterprises (MSME) in the country.
Immediate past president of the Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Iyalode Alaba Lawson, in an interview with Daily Sun, lamented that the end of most of these small business may be closer as none of the Micro Finance banks will be able to raise the funds.
“The policy will not help the MSME and the SME who get their capital from Micro Finance banks. They will kill all these instruments of grassroots. Some of them needs as little as N5,000,” she said.
Lawson who is also the founder of the NACCIMA Women Business Group (NAWORG) created in 2005, said the apex bank should realise that the economic condition in the country would not support the banks to raise such an enormous amount.
She noted that initially the present Micro Finance banks were community banks, which government transformed to Micro finance banks with recapitalisation funds of N20 million. She said, “Now they want us to look for N200 million. The Federal Government should help us look into it. They should leave Micro Finance Banks where they belong. “I am the chairman of a Micro finance bank, the N5 million we paid for the community bank was never returned to us. Where are we going to get N200 million with this state of the economy?”
She stated that Nigeria must be seen supporting the small businesses and not pushing out policies that will strangulate them. “Nigeria need to go back to non oil export, that is the only way to save our economy.
Any economy based on only crude oil such as ours is in trouble and we can all clearly see that. We have neglected agriculture and other areas,” she said.
She emphasized that the OPS must be encouraged for Nigeria’s economy to return to what it used to be and cut down on recurrent expenditure.
The former NACCIMA boss added that government should also look into the problem of multiple taxation which has continued to stall the progress of small business enterprises in the country.