The Federal Government should assist state governments in providing an intervention fund for business owners affected by the mass looting which took place post EndSARS protest.
The fund, according to the President of the National association of small and medium sized enterprises (NASME), Mr Degun Agboade should be administered in a very transparent manner.
“The verification exercise should be accompanied by proper documentation. In the verification forms, there should be a space there to ascertain if they belong to a business membership organisation (BMO) and they can further verify from the BMOs how genuine the claim was. It will be a very tedious job and it will take some time but it will benefit everyone.”
Agboade commended Access Bank for creating a N50 billion fund to assist those whose shops were looted.
The NASME President advised the bank to disburse the fund through various BMOs for it to get to the right hands. He also enjoined the management of the bank to extend the fund to MSMEs.
“Many of us laboured in the sun only to get everything destroyed within three to four days. I have never seen this type of monumental and unprecedented destruction since I was born. A lot of our people that had borrowed money from the bank for one enterprise or the other, their hopes have been shattered. The destruction will affect a lot of our members. Moreso, the country is just coming out of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.”
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