The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has so far disbursed N80billion out of the N220 intervention funds earmarked by the Federal Government to boost Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
The Director General of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr Dikko Umaru, who disclosed this in Lagos at Commerce and Industry Correspondent Association of Nigeria (CICAN)’s Forum,said his agency had engaged the apex bank on how to make it convenient for more SMEs to access the funds.
He said:“If we really want SMEs to access this fund, we need to relax the conditions. We urge the CBN to look into this, because most of our small businesses are barely struggling to survive.
“At SMEDAN, we can serve as referrals to the bank on behalf of the SMEs, because we know them inside out.
“We also need a lot of collaboration with other relevant agencies and we hope to delegate duties to increase the ease of doing business in the country.
“Many of the SMEs have already been ladened by regulatory conditions, taxes and poor infrastructure.So, as stakeholders, we should devise a means of lending more support to them,” the SMEDAN boss said.
