Stakeholders at the maiden Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry Conference held on Monday were united in their identification of multiple taxation, lack of skilled manpower, lack of favourable government protection policy, high cost of funds, lack of sufficient energy, lack of infrastructural or logistics as the issues militating against the growth of SMEs in the country.
Speaker after speaker hit the same chord and were quite pained particularly about the scenario of multiple taxation.
In his welcome address the President of the Chamber Dr. Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, said the conference is targeted at finding solutions to the problems confronting small and medium enterprises in the country in line with the theme of the conference “Solution Strategies for resolving, Tax, Regulatory, Packaging and Logistics challenges facing SMEs in Nigeria”.
“It is my pleasure and honour to welcome you to the solution-providing conference on small and medium scale business in Nigeria.
”I particularly commend His Excellency, the vice-president Prof Yemi Osibanjo for his passion to grow the SME sector we are indeed elated that the vice president honoured our invitation to be part of this occasion and is ably
“I want to reiterate that there are no shortages of analysis, reviews and information on problems facing SMEs.
“The Chamber thinks that what is missing is the creation and implementation of solutions by stakeholders
“Like the MC said, if you do not have workable solutions, please you are not supposed to be here.
Represented by Hajia Katagum (Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Investment)
“The Chamber of Commerce and Industry alongside her partners conceived this maiden annual event to provide answers to the often repeated challenges facing the small and medium enterprises.
He commended the Federal Government for various interventions and innovation it has churned out to develop the sector adding, “this is not another talk shop- our goal for this conference is to match problems with solutions.”
The National President of National Association of Chambers Of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Chief John Udeagbala, in his goodwill message which was delivered by his representative , Otunba Dele Oye he said “I sincerely applaud the initiative because it provides a platform for relevant stakeholders to come together to showcase potentials of our SMEs and also draw attention to the challenges faced by SMEs.
“Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are already aware SMEs are the engine room for every nation, they play very important and critical role in the growth and development of every nation across the world.
“In Nigeria according to the statistics, they contribute 48% of national Gross Domestic Product, which accounts for 76% of businesses and 4% of employment.
“It is therefore important for government at all levels to pay attention to the needs of SMEs.
“The government also needs to restrict massive importation of foreign goods especially those we can produce locally.
Mr. Dele Oye, who wore two caps on the occasion, also delivered a goodwill message from the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI) listing some of the efforts and achievements of the regional body while harping on the need for Nigerian traders to take advantage of the West African market.
He also emphasized that such businessmen should endeavor to acquire the ETSL certificate in order to enjoy tax exemption.
Oye announced that FEWACCI is planning to set up an information desk in Lagos for traders along the Lagos/Abidjan corridor. “We hope to develop this with our partners Ecobank,” a bank which is actually a baby of FEWACCI according to Oye.
Senator Francis Adenigba the Chairman of the Senate Committee on SMEs in his brief speech, assured that the National Assembly is committed to assisting in securing bigger budget votes to fund SMEs. He promised appropriate enabling laws will be enacted to ensure that SMEs have wings to fly.
Other speakers at the event who spoke on behalf of SMEs include Mrs. Kazeem of Hotel Owners Forum Abuja and Dr. Franklin Akinyosoye.
Maryam Katagum declared the conference open after highlighting a lot of the efforts governments has made in ameliorating the difficulties in the sector.