The Association of Small Business Owners has called on the Federal Government to shift focus from its seven-point agenda to a two-point agenda of power supply and provision of motorable roads.
This, according to the body, is important if the country is to achieve its aim of encouraging the development of small businesses in the country.
The President, ASBON, Dr. Femi Egbesola, stated this when he led other executive council of the association paid a courtesy visit to The PUNCH Place, head office of Punch Nigeria Limited in Ogun State on Tuesday.
He said continuous focus on the seven-point agenda would not be feasible in the short-term as some of the targets of government could not be achievable in the next few years.
Egbesola said, “We want to seize this opportunity to appeal to the Federal Government to drop the seven-point agenda and instead focus on a two-point agenda, which we think will go a long way to aid the growth of small businesses in Nigeria.
“The two areas of focus by government should be roads and electricity. If government is able to make these two key components to work in the country, then, we can say that a major portion of the challenges being faced by small businesses would have been addressed.
“Also, we want government to look into the issue of multiple tax system in the country as well as rising interest rates. These do not augur well for the survival of small businesses in Nigeria. We are all aware that a major part of our problem is financing, and the government should help us to look into this issue so that we can use our funding to develop our businesses.”
Speaking on the establishment of the association, Egbesola said that there was a gap between small business owners and other enterprises owing to registration requirements laid down by the Central Bank of Nigeria for their operations.
