Dr. Femi Egbesola is the President, Association of Small Business Owners. In this interview with NGOZI AMUCHE, he says the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control’s new tariff hike will kill small businesses, if urgent measures are not taken to reverse it. Excerps.
Your members have been grappling with various economic challenges in terms of ‘ease of doing business’. Tell us how you are able to cope with government polices.
Well, some of the government policies have been so challenging to our association. For instance, on the 1st of June this year, we were shocked to realise that NAFDAC had increased the cost of some of their regulatory services and even introduced new fees without consulting the stakeholders, which are the business membership organisations.
Some of these fees went as high as 600 per cent or even higher. To us, this is ill-timed and unsupportive of small businesses. If this price hike is allowed to stay, the implication is that, it will impact very negatively on small businesses. What this means is that a lot of small businesses will collapse, jobs will be lost and it will also mean that more fake products will find their ways into the market. Very unfortunately too, prices of NAFDAC regulated products will go up; it will give room for imported products to come in and this will further weaken our Naira, and of course, it will bring harsh economic realities on Nigerians.
What are the new and old rates as illustrated by NAFDAC, and your suggestions on how this can be tackled?
Yes, some of the NAFDAC rates are: Production registration rates Old rate (N73, 500), New rate (N147, 000); Pack size extension: Old rate (N10, 500), New rate (N84, 000); Change in pack design: Old rate (N10, 500), New rate (84,000); `Cosmetics lab analysis: Old rate (N21, 000), New rate (N21, 000); Change in product name: Old rate (N21, 000), New rate (N84, 000).
We declare this as unacceptable, therefore, we call on all potential business owners, those that are already in business, to jointly kick against this anomaly that has bedeviled the business community. We must join hands together to save our nation and our economy. If we don’t do anything now, you will also discover that some other government agencies will arbitrarily increase their price in no distant time.
And this will not only affect businesses, it will affect even you. So we believe that with you on our side, we can save our economy.
We know that NAFDAC is a government agency, but there must be solution to every given problem.
How would you want the government to intervene?
We believe that we have a listening government that will listen to us and ensure that NAFDAC reverses this price hike. This price hike is not only unimaginable but it is also outrageous and unthinkable. We therefore appeal that the Federal Government should intervene in the issue by asking the regulator to reverse the fees.
In recent times, there has been a campaign on utilisation of Made in Nigeria products. What are your members doing in promoting this campaign?
Our association is at the forefront of promoting Made-in–Nigeria products. Made- in-Nigeria projects enhance manufacturing. Other than opening avenues for job creation and skill enhancement, we believe in enhancing the quality standards of Nigerian made products, minimising the impact on the environment, and making Nigeria a desirable destination for capital and technological investment and also factors that will go a long way in boosting exports. We are making every effort to establish a micro finance bank to help entrepreneurs to grow their ventures.
This is because the overall entrepreneurial ecosystem needs to be nurtured to encourage greater growth ambition among SMEs. This could be supported through the establishment of public-private partnerships delivering high-quality SME business support. Again, there is a need to support SMEs to innovate and transform as a means of building a sustainable business, and these should include a healthy dose of incentives and financial-assistance programmes to help them along.
How would your focus on job creation help to sustain industrial development?
Focusing on job creation, entrepreneurship and the promotion of small and medium enterprises could boost inclusive and sustainable industrial development across the country. The SME networking through cluster development would assist them to overcome the challenges of the economy by fostering their collective efficiency, apart from helping the government and the banks to monitor loan repayment and regulatory compliance.
Given the substantial opportunities for SMEs in areas such as manufacturing, services and agriculture and their potential for reducing poverty, it was critical for governments to come up with effective strategies and practical investment programmes to facilitate further SME cluster development. The need to create an enabling environment for business, which activates industrial growth, triggers local economic development and increases income and job opportunities.
