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 newsmen.
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.
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.
Soro added that SMEDAN’s budget performance in 2024 is understandable given the poor releases for capital expenditure by the government.
