Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki.
Ebonyi State government led by Governor Francis Nwifuru has expressed its readiness to develop Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs to boost the economy of the state.
The State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr Oguzor Offia Nwali, stated this during a courtesy visit by the embers of the African Association of SMEs, Tuesday in his office at the new Government House, Ochudo Centenary City Abakaliki.
Nwali disclosed that the state governor has approved a proposal made by his office as a commissioner on the need for the state to establish the fuss fund.
He assured that his office would work seriously to develop SMEs, ensuring their sustainability and issues of multiple taxation being tackled.
His words: "We will look at the development of SMEs, the financing of SMEs and the issue of multiple taxation SMEs. The development of SMEs is one other issue very important. When we talk about the development of SMEs, we have to talk about the consciousness of delivering these SMEs. The hallmark of what my administration will do as commissioner is that money meant for small and medium enterprises will be, the people to access it are people who need it. I don't expect anybody would come to deduct the money meant for these people and put it in the envelope to give to me. I will not collect it.
"The small and medium scale enterprises are made up of the people in local trades. We are going to help our local traders. What we need to do is to give them the money to develop their businesses, they will employ people locally, and earn from the profit which will encourage them to pay small taxes to the government.
"On that base, the government will benefit in two ways. We know, it is the responsibility of the government to employ people but since not everybody will be a direct employee of the government, we will find a way of providing funds, to aid small and medium-scale businesses for them to assist the government in employing people and in the other way round they will pay small tax. When they pay taxes and employ people, they have helped the government in two ways."
While condemning the fraudulent activities of individuals and groups in their bid to siphon public funds, he warned that his office would not condone sharp practices by any privileged ones who may try to claim to be members of SMEs during loan or grants disbursement in the state.
"The government we are having in Nigeria and the whole world is that people can never be satisfied, everybody wants to be everywhere. Every day they do programs in different hotels. They will tell you that they want to give you a loan. You will see it on television, hear it on the radio and after everything the loan goes back to the people preaching the gospel. And people who will come can't even receive their bank account numbers back. There won't be any means to trace them. So, in Africa, we are problems of ourselves. The issue we keep saying is that the government doesn't treat us fair, and we are not also doing fair to ourselves.
"What is unfortunate in this issue is that you are in Ebonyi, your brother may be at Onitsha, and you feel what is happening doesn't concern you. Your brothers are in Abuja, Lagos and other big cities in this country, you feel that directly what is happening doesn't concern you.
"If you are here and doing this rubbish, and anything wrong happens, you didn't even know if you prepare for his misfortune.
"I don't need planning and a proposal, what I need is a chart that will show me, the practical way you are going to propose it. The implementation pattern, how is it going to be, I can't supervise a program that I won't give back to the governor with the names of the recipients whose phone numbers do not go. The email address can't be traceable, the account balance is the account they opened yesterday, and we come over every day to reap everything.
"We will get the fund and when the whole thing is available, certain people will package it up and give us fake names down here. That loan I will not be part of it. If there is anything, what I should allow any of you to go back to do, is to make the working plan. Reflect on how it will be on paper. How I am going to follow it up to get good results? To empower our people in local trades, and to make them happy and rich.
"Before now I have met with the governor to reactivate what is called the fuss fund. Some of you may know what fuss fund means. The fuss fund will help us get money from the state government and give a loan that doesn't come with interest - a free-interest loan to small-scale business owners, to push them up, so that if somebody is making soap, the one uses to wash cars for instance, the person will make good improvement. This is the first proposal I submitted to His Excellency and I am happy he has approved it. Once we get funds, the first thing I will do is to find a way to brief you through your representatives, for us to chat out the implementation process. I won't like you to include me, my mother, or my children, because we don't need it."
Earlier, the State Chairman of the African Association of SMEs, Pastor Nwaze Friady Eze, explained that the association works on a medium-term development plan vision 2021 to 2025 on economic growth competitive trade and investment, African Continental Free Trade Agreement on Manufacturing Sector Group Southern Nigeria and African International SMEs Economic Summit 2023.
He further stated that the association currently works on SME development that would catch up with the potential investors to develop the SME sub-sectors, emphasizing the need to boost the members' economic team, especially through knowledge, innovation and creativity.
The association identified the challenges it almost felt as the financial ones, especially the difficulty always encountered by its members to access loans or grants and also urged government assistance to reduce multiple taxations.
"Governments could assist in numerous ways, including providing collateral, creating and supporting specific loans to SMEs or grants to those that achieve certain goals, like improving productivity or hiring additional personnel. They could also favour our members in their taxing policies.
"But we are confident that the Ebonyi state government led by His Excellency Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru will address all these challenges having heard that the government plan to execute the SME law when enacted. We expect that our members will have access to an SME business clinic centre in the state, the one that would signpost Ebonyi, the Salt of Nation to international communities," Nwaze said.
Recall that the State Secretary of AASMEs, Joe Erishi commended Commissioner Nwali on his pragmatic approach towards business development especially his widespread interest in SMEs.
Also recall that Commissioner Nwali also received the members of the Ebonyi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (EBCCIMA) led by the Director General, Barrister Hyacinth Uguru and the President, Elder Nduka Ozo. The group in its address noted that it had enjoyed epileptic instead of the solid support of the state government over the years and however, expressed its readiness to partner with the current administration for development purposes.
