That the unemployment situation in Nigeria has reached explosive, nay epidemic proportions is no longer in contention. And that all governments’ efforts at proffering solutions to the malaise have proved largely ineffective is equally not in doubt. What is however of serious concern to Nigerians is the authentic cum impregnable way out of this quagmire.
But in the midst of this seeming gloom lies a silver lining the sky as epitomized in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)–a laudable policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), aimed essentially at offering Nigerians a wonderful window of opportunity to finances and business development services.
It would be recalled that in the 60s and 70s, school leavers secure jobs with relative ease; graduates were scarce and hard to come by, and it was employers who looked for them instead of the other way round; jobs existed in firms and industries that could be counted with mere finger tips and government remained the largest employer of labour. However, those were the good days gone by.
Today, Nigeria is bedeviled with the cankerworm called unemployment so much so that the government has been consistently hectoring Nigerians to think of alternative ways, outside the government circle, on how to become self-employed.
To provide succor for the teeming population of jobless Nigerians seeking alternative means of survival through self-employment and to lend a helping hand, in a manner of speaking, to those whose businesses are reeling in shock as a result of economic meltdown, the government, through the CBN, elected to package the MSMEs, which account for largely 80% of enterprises in Nigeria and the rest of Africa to provide ‘’greater benefits to society in terms of job creation, and as a result, poverty alleviation.’’
And because MSMEs are usually bogged down by the debilitating incidences of lack of access to financing, business development services and access to trade and capital markets, Kajaura International Consults (KIC) Ltd, working in conjunction with the CBN, has to step in with its wide-ranging degree of expertise to provide the MSMEs with access to ‘’much-need risk-sharing capital and business development services.’’ So, by working with cooperatives, KIC Ltd has opened up access to the hefty N220 billion CBN intervention fund, which is intended to create unlimited nay sustainable jobs for countless millions of Nigerians that are currently roaming the streets in search of seemingly elusive jobs.
From all intents and purposes, with large investment opportunities that abound all over place, money sourced from this intervention fund could be used in creating employment opportunities not only for the borrower, but for those to be employed in the businesses for which such funds are borrowed.
For Nigerians interested in accessing funds from this intervention project, several opportunities are open to them for investment in areas such as piggery venture; fish farming; farming; palm oil trade; restaurant management; bakery project; cassava processing industry; vegetable oil processing; food processing; marketing of farm products; ice fish business; groundnut oil industry; plastic recycling and soya beans cultivation, to mention but a few.
No doubt, Nigeria is a nation where thousands of her citizens are bristling with wonderful ideas on numerous business ventures. Unfortunately, those who have such ideas do not have the fund and those with the fund, lack ideas—a conflicting situation that can only be harmonised by agencies such as KIC Ltd through the instrumentality of CBN’s intervention fund.
On this note, a large pool of the unemployed who have brilliant ideas could come together and take advantage of the business development services offered by the synergy between the CBN and KIC Ltd to realise those ideas for the benefit of themselves and the Nigerian economy. Those people, it must be realised are often unable to provide collaterals, which various banks demand on individual basis.
I am of the strong opinion that great attention should also be paid to idea-financing, just like the financing of individuals, which Nigerian banks are accustomed to. If Nigerians are ready to conceptualise useful ideas of social and economic benefits, then there should be no reason why they should not be encouraged. And it is for this reason that the cardinal objectives of bridging the gap in financing, which KIC Ltd espouses, should be encouraged in all ramifications.
It has been proven overtime that financing of businesses without adequate provision of business development services is akin to a blind man groping in the dark without the services of a guide. It is the realisation of this hard fact that actually informed the prioritisation of business development services by KIC Ltd. It is expected that a high preponderance of economically-distressed nay unemployment-ravaged Nigerians and a cornucopia of MSMEs will take advantage of what is on parade with a view to repositioning their economic lot and the economy of Nigeria as whole.
It is because government has so much confidence in the ability of the private investors to establish and profitably manage small and medium-scale enterprises that informed its decision to transfer interest in some of its enterprises to private hands, either by outright sale or sale of part of its equity in such establishments. Above all, government has adopted and is pursuing a policy of financial non-involvement in small scale enterprises, except by way of loans and incentives. This underscores the importance attached to MSMEs, which KIC Ltd is currently pursuing with utmost vigor.