ACCORDING to the Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency between 2017 and 2021, the number of micro, small, and medium firms in Nigeria decreased by roughly two million.
According to the report, the number of MSMEs in the country fell from over 41 million in 2017 to 39 million in 2021, owing to the impact of COVID-19 and other problems on small companies across the country.
Dikko Radda, the Director-General of SMEDAN, made the announcement at an event in Abuja organized by the Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative in conjunction with SMEDAN.
He said, “According to the 2021 MSME Survey, there are 39 million MSMEs in Nigeria. This is a significant drop from 41 million MSMEs reported in the 2017 survey report.
“The major reason for the drop in the number of MSMEs could be traced to the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges MSMEs have in accessing funds to start or grow their enterprise and the problems of globalisation.”
Radda, who was represented by Wale Fasanya, Director, SMEDAN, Planning, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, said both the public and private sectors had a responsibility to play in the long-term growth of MSMEs in Nigeria.
He also mentioned that MSMEs’ contribution to Nigeria’s GDP fell by 3.5 percent in 2021, and that MSMEs accounted for 6.2 percent of external trade in the same year.
“According to the 2021 MSME survey report, the top priority areas of support that MSMEs need are power, funding/finance, tax and security. This could explain why the total MSMEs’ contribution to GDP dipped by 3.5 per cent in 2021 and only accounted for 6.2 per cent of external trade,” he stated.
Radda added, “With these in mind, there is an obvious need for all the critical stakeholders to more than ever before put in place mechanisms to ensure that the potentials that lie within the MSMEs are fully exploited to create wealth, employment and reduce poverty in Nigeria.”
Yomi David, Executive Director of the Transparency Advocacy Development Initiative, said the event was held to highlight the importance of MSMEs in developing national capability.
For maximum effectiveness, he advised the Federal Government to raise SMEDAN to a commission.
