Hardship: Over 8 million small businesses shut down in Nigeria, says ASBON

Maureen Aguta

The National President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Mr Femi Egbesola, has lamented the impact of the economic policies under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the current administration of President Bola Tinubu on small businesses.

During an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Friday, he made the startling revelation that approximately twenty percent of businesses within the country were compelled to stop operations from January 2023 and June 2024, attributing this alarming trend to the economic policies implemented by the administrations.

“We have had cases where businesses shut down. We have around 40 million small businesses in the country and with 20 per cent already shut, it would mean that we have about 8 million businesses shut,” he said.

He also revealed that many business owners have lost their lives after shutting their businesses.

“Many persons have died from shutting their businesses; some could not fulfil their loan obligations, so they died from the pressure. Others are in the hospital as of now,” he noted.

He urged the government to declare a state of emergency on the economy.

“A state of economy should be declared as we are the highest employer of labour (referring to small-scale businesses). We account for 86 per cent of the country’s workforce and you can imagine what happens when small businesses cannot survive,” he said.

Egbesola also revealed that he used to have 52 workers but now has only 14, due to the economic hardship.

“Businesses are now downsizing, for instance, I used to have 52 workers but now I have only 14. Imagine that kind of downsizing due to economic issues,” he said.

Nigeria has been suffering from rising inflation. More recently, the prices of petrol were hiked across the country, going for as high as N1,200 per litre in some parts, worsening the hardships faced by Nigerians.