50% Of Small Business Outfits CollapseUNTIL February 2009, John Achonna was running a successful distribution business with a sprawling shop at the highbrow Asa Road in Aba, Abia State. His ware, mainly confessionary and other related items, saw him frequenting Lagos, at least twice a week, for a period of seven years before the economic down-turn three years ago. But for the emergence of tricycle (popularly known as Marwa), which has displaced commercial motor cylce in Umuahia and Aba, he would have been today, perhaps, totally idle.Waiting for his turn in the long queue of other tricyclists at the Okigwe Road junction of the commercial city, Achonna sat forlorn on hid cycle. Taciturn by nature, the former entrepreneur could not join the free jokes that were going on among his colleagues at the park. His interest was on how to make the anticipated returns of the day to meet up the delivery to the owner of the tricycle. He, like many others, was operating the machine on hire purchase on basis.Another celebrated victim of the economic hardship is a middle aged professional tailor, Mr. James Ogbonnaya, a specialist in shirts and trousers. His workshop at No 17, Nwachukwu Street, has become a spot for selling sachet waterpure water.But between 1990 till last year, Ogbonnaya had no fewer than 12 employees, 20 brands of sewing machines and other accessories. His supply-chain made mens wears available in major markets at the neighbouring towns of Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Calabar and beyond, including Lagos.The two cases are not isolated. Greater parts of Umuahia and Aba, the two urban cities in the state, have become filled with the orange colours of tricycles, usurping all the major streets. The situation, which has gradually changed the two towns vehicular movements, has given them the tag: Marwa Cities. The impression is that majority of able bodied men there have taken to driving commercial tricycles as a means of eking out a living, having lost their former flourishing businesses.Analysing the situation, experts volunteered comments. Excerpts: Mr. Christopher Uduak (Chairman, now rested UDCC Enterprises, Aba)MY business misfortune began when packaged shirts from Indonesia and China started having easy entry into the country, no thanks to the closure of the textile mills, which were supplying us materials. I initially reduced the workforce, but with no improvement at sight, I had no option than to lay them off and converted the shop into a GSM recharge cards centre. Still, lack of funds has forced me to hawk pure water, using the empty shops as a mere store for unsold bags of water. My case is pathetic in the sense that I couldnt get anybody to lease a tricycle to me, because that is the only occupation that has taken over our trade in the past five years. My attempt at securing loan to revive my business has hit the brickwall.Aba has gradually slipped from a market town into a dried business city. The terms of self-employment drive, buoyed by the spirit of entrepreneurship, has waned. The affected would have been helped had the microfinance bankslocated at every corner of the townhad kept to their words at inception, indicating willingness to provide the small scale business enterprises with soft loans to keep alive their dying business outfits. Some of us are still having our proposals lying with the microfinance banks more than two years after submission.The situation is not helped by the fact that the election fever, which caught up with the nation since last year, did not allow any tier of government to be forthcoming in the need to have a policy in place that could tackle the economic hardship with its attendant loss of business life line of the citizenry.But the politicians asked us to wait after successful elections for them to come to our rescue and we are waiting. We hope that something will soon be done to revive the over 50 per cent of the small business outfits in Aba that have collapsed. Dr. Robert Nwosu (a senior lecturer, Business Administration, Imo State University)THE only scientific approach to the revival of failed business outfits in the country is for the government to promote the growth of small and medium scale enterprises. No country that depends on importation of goods and services can witness growth; the same can be said of this country unless something is done to address the salient issues. The irony is that Nigeria has all it takes to promote business growth, as to have a better GDP than what it has today. This is only impossible so long as the basic amenities, like power, security and roads are not improved on.When compared with other countries, Nigeria has no reason to have the rate of unemployment as recorded against it today. Statistics have said that more than 60 per cent of able-bodies people in the country are unemployed while those that have opted for self-employment are frustrated to the point of closing shops and taking to ridding either commercial motor cycles or tricycles. It is not good enough for a country that can boast of being the sixth in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).The other minerals of the country are not considered here, let alone its agricultural potentials, which abound in its green belt and tropical climate. I will suggest that rather than closing ones shop to go for okada or Marwa, going back to farming is better.Again, the question is, with the petrol-dollars can the policy makers create the enabling environment for those who would turn to farming to have a good measure of assistance that could see them feeling fulfilled that a good alternative to what they were doing before exists This is to be achieved if the Land Used Act will be amended to make land easily affordable by anybody that wants to go back to agriculture, the main stay of the economy, before the introduction of petroleum economy. And that is to say that agriculture holds the ace for the solution of loss of business lines, unemployment and economic melt down.If Zimbabwean displaced farmers could find solace in Nigeria, what is the problem in having a deliberate policy that will promote farming in scale similar to what other developing countries of the world have Nigerians can produce virtually all manner of foods, fruits and vegetables if the necessary policy-support is given. An aide to the Minister of FinanceTHERE is every indication that the countrys economic woes would soon be over with successful elections. The World Bank and the IMF have confirmed that direct foreign investment (DFI) expected in the country, for having held a successful election, is estimated at over $50 billion in a couple of years.Given the new economic blueprint of the Federal Government, which will soon be unveiled, the past will be seen of the economic downturn, complained of in the past years. The solution to unsteady power supply has been identified and given the interest shown by investors in that sector, the country will soon put that problem behind it. A situation whereby power supply and other incentives are in existence, most of the small and medium business enterprises will come back alive.On the allegation of government not having concrete programme to promote indigenous companies, the Federal Government has put in place some incentives for the real sector, with the setting aside of N500 billion towards the ailing industries including the textile sector. The actualisation of these incentives would be gradual. Dr. Joseph Sanusi, Former CBN GovernorAS at May 2003, a total of N14.6 billion was set aside by banks for equity investment under a policy designed to help SMIEIS. However, only N4.3 billion or 29.4 per cent of the fund was actually invested by the end of that year. The reason for this was that the banks requirement for credit appraisal was not in place.Therefore, the need to have banks and other financial institutions established to have subsidiaries for the sole purpose of channelling such investment should be seen as the practical means of seeing to the growth of the small enterprises, such that cases of failed entrepreneurs would be limited. Ugochukwu Emezue (Special Assistant to Governor Theodore Orji on Media)IT is not only in Abia State that the economic down turn has had a rippling effect on the business class. It is rather a national issue, if not international. But one thing is clear with the state; the government has been putting in place measures that would see to the provision of infrastructure and other incentives for the revival of ailing business organisations within its limited resources. This could be seen from the development efforts of the government, which is bound to improve more now that the elections are over. Mrs. Josephine Anurue (a civil servant said in Umuahia)THERE may not be any immediate solution to move the army of the unemployed, and those whose business outfits have closed, joining the retinue of tricycle drivers in Umuahia and Aba. But what has been of worry to the residents of the two towns is that the riders have no respect to other road users. The disdain with which those of them on commercial tricycles regard other road users it could be regarded as transferred frustration to innocent road users. Even with your uniform, an average Marwa driver is not ready to obey common traffic rule.I believe it is this same behaviour of the riders that was responsible for the traffic bottlenecks often experienced on major streets of Umuahia including Bende Road, Azikiwe Roads and Timber Road. This is the same in Aba on daily basis.The tricyclists are behaving like the motorcyclists before they were banned from these cities. If they (tricyclists) are not ready to change their mannerism on the roads, government may be forced to restrict them from plying some major cities, as is the case with the motorcyclists.
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