The National President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Mr. Femi Egbesola, is worried about how the economic policies of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the current President Bola Tinubu have hurt small businesses.
In an interview with SaharaReporters, he said that about 20% of businesses in Nigeria had to close between January 2023 and June 2024 because of these policies.
“We have around 40 million small businesses in the country and with 20% already shut, it would mean that we have about 8 million businesses shut,” he told SaharaReporters.
He also said that many business owners have died after closing their businesses. “Many people have died from the pressure of closing their businesses. Some couldn’t pay back their loans, and others are still in the hospital,” he said.
Egbesola wants the government to declare an economic emergency. “A state of economy should be declared as we are the highest employer of labour (referring to small-scale businesses). We account for 86% of the country’s workforce and you can imagine what happens when small businesses cannot survive,” he said.
Egbesola also said that he used to have 52 workers but now only has 14 because of the bad economy. “Businesses are now downsizing, for instance, I used to have 52 workers but now I have only 14,” he said.
Nigeria has been dealing with rising prices. Recently, the price of petrol went up to as high as N1,200 per liter in some places, making life even harder for Nigerians.
