MSMEs seek FG’s intervention in funding, enabling environment

Some owners of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country have appealed to the federal government to help boost their businesses by increasing access to fund and enabling environment.

A cross section of the MSMEs entrepreneurs, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Abuja on Sunday, complained of various challenges confronting their businesses and appealed to government for more assistance.

A manufacturer of ‘Shear Butter’ commonly called ‘Ori’, Hajiya Aishat Baba, ssaidthat she lacked fund to purchase relevant equipment to process the ‘Shear Butter’ and to pay her employees.

According to Baba, who hails from Niger state, she is relying on manual method to manufacture the product, which has been very stressful, cumbersome and time consuming.

“Using manual method is very difficult, if I get enough fund, it will enhance production,  packaging, marketing and delivery of the product because my dream is to be known in the international market.

“The product itself is marketable because it is good in the treatment of Arthritis, Rheumatism, Pneumonia and treatment of hair among others.

A manufacturer of ‘Kulikuli’ and Groundnut oil, Mrs Marian Sadiq, said that she was faced with lack of land to build a factory and other stringent conditions by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to register her products.

According to her, because her business is a small one, she cannot meet NAFDAC’s registration requirements to relocate her business from a residential area to an industrial area.

“Getting a land for factory is a very big problem to me because of inadequate fund.

“Also, I can’t manufacture the product in a residential area because of oil spillage and effect of the machines, which may affect neighbours adversely,” she said.

Another MSMEs, Mrs Susuuti Bulus, a manufacturer of condiments like Turmeric, Dry Okro, Ginger, Curry, Garlic among others also complained of NAFDAC’s stringent registration conditions for approval of products.

She said the financial standard set out for MSMEs by NAFDAC, which stated that an MSMEs must have a factory of three bedroom and machines for production was stringent.

Another manufacturer, Basirat Oyebanjo, a  “Garri Ijebu” manufacturer, also urged NAFDAC to make its regulations on certification of products flexible to enable them key into the registration.

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