A Lagos-based
Confectioner, Mrs Precious Aremu, on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to
provide small and medium entrepreneurs with funds to help them to remain in
business.
Aremu, the proprietor of
Palinio Cookies Ltd., told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that many small
businesses were going under due to paucity of funds.
``To sustain one’s
business under the prevailing Nigerian economy is quite a challenging task,’’
said Aremu whose industry exports biscuits.
``Even the institutions
that are supposed to support enterprise with finance are contributing to the
death of small businesses because of their nonchalant attitude to give out
loans.’’
Aremu also urged the
Federal Government to review its policy on the ban of importation of certain
items needed by bakers.
``For example, the cost
of baking bread will go up and affect affordability if government bans the
importation of margarine.
``It is counterproductive
to ban items that one has not been able to produce in quality standard locally
because industries that depend on such material input are likely to groan,’’
she said.
She added that the dearth
of skilled bakers and auxilliary personnel needed to create boom in Nigeria’s
baking sub-sector was contributing to the low productivity in the industry.
``The amount of fund
expended on training and retraining of personnel by bakeries is worrisome when
one considers the profit as motivation to go into business.
``It is the more
worrisome that those that have been trained do not remain in the sector to
contribute their quota to its growth,’’ she lamented. (NAN)
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