MSMEs Empowerment, Solution To Nigeria’s Unemployment Problem—- Expert

Nigeria’s high unemployment rate could be reduced if the government steps up its support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the country, Taiwo Oyedele, West African Tax Leader of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said on Tuesday.

The National Bureau of Statics had in its latest labour force report put the unemployment rate at 27.1 percent in Q2 of 2020, representing a record high from the figure in 2018, which was 23.4 percent.

Underemployment rate was equally estimated at 26.8 per cent in the same period of 2020.

According to him, the over 40 million MSMEs in the country could narrow the unemployment rate in the country with the right approach by the government.

“We have to realise that government cannot create employment that will end our unemployment numbers.

“We also need to recognise that the white collar jobs, working in the bank, oil company and telecommunication will not solve this problem, in fact, all the banks in Nigeria combined can employ less than 200 thousand people.

“That is a drop in the ocean in terms of the number we are looking at. The solution to Nigeria’s unemployment falls within the MSMEs sectors,” he said on TVC.

He added, “We have over 40 million MSMEs, imagine you empower them and create the right environment and half of them just employ one more person, then you will be able to get our unemployment numbers to where it should be. “

According to Oyedele, government has to provide the environment enabling for SMEs across the country to thrive.

He said, “It is not every time that people are trying to survive that government will start to think of how to tax them.”

The expert said the country needs to start thinking about how to solve the rising unemployment level which, according to him has become a “national problem.”

On some of the programmes needed to be implemented by government to address the issue of unemployment in the country, he said that, “those efforts are disconnected and disjointed,” adding that government needs to find ways to address the gap.

Oyedele said, “If one level of government or one agency of government is trying to provide fund because they want to address the issue of access to credit for small businesses and another agency of government is looking for how to increase levies, fees and licences or you see law enforcement agencies stopping people on the road or saying you cannot put you signpost here, or they say you have to get 15 different approvals before you can open a small shop to earn a living.

“The idea is that first and foremost we need a coordinated approach, “ he added.

He said getting approval from agencies like the National Administration for Food and Drug Administration and Control is sometimes difficult, adding that he does not suggest that the country should lower its regulatory standards.

He said that the government must think of an ecosystem of how small businesses operate, the ability to create easy access to capital, access to training, dealing with registrations and tax rates, and importation clearing.

The expert added that across the globe, SMEs are the highest employers of labour.

He further noted that the role of SMEs is more critical than public private partnership which is also important.

He said the recent unemployment numbers are very alarming, but not surprising,.

He said, “the country does not have social safety net which means when you are employed you take care of yourself, when you are unemployed you are completely on your own. You don’t get the support from the state or from the government. “