In the last two years, an estimated 7.8 million small businesses under the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON) have ceased to exist, according to exclusive information obtained by The PUNCH.
ASBON President, Femi Egbesola, revealed this in an interview, stating that 20% of businesses have collapsed between January 2021 and the present date. Out of the approximately 39 million existing businesses captured by data, 20% or 7.8 million have been adversely affected.
Regarding the palliatives announced by President Bola Tinubu for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Egbesola commended the move but advised the government to collaborate with relevant associations to ensure that the funds are not misappropriated by corrupt individuals. He emphasized the need for proper implementation and monitoring of the policy to ensure that actual business owners benefit from the palliatives.
The report by ASBON came after a 2022 report by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) which indicated that at least two million SMEs in the country had collapsed between 2017 and 2021. Dikko Radda, the Director-General of SMEDAN, stated that the number of SMEs had dropped from 41 million to 39 million.
Solomon Aderoju, the National Vice President of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, attributed the collapse of SMEs to a harsh business environment characterized by high operational costs, inflationary pressures, over-taxation, and lack of access to funding, among other challenges. He lamented the government’s reluctance to address these issues, which continue to drive small businesses out of operation.
According to a report by FATE Foundation, a Lagos-based enterprise support organization, many of the SMEs that went out of business were hardest hit by the post-COVID-19 economic realities. Access to finance was identified as the top need area for SMEs, with 74% of survey respondents indicating this as a significant challenge. The World Bank survey also revealed that despite small businesses providing over 80% of Nigeria’s jobs, only 15% of SMEs had access to bank loans or lines of credit.
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