A professor at the Pan Atlantic University, Austin Nwaeze, has urged the Nigerian government to emulate Israel’s system of funding small businesses, which will in turn create more jobs for the largely unemployed populace.
“In Israel, as small as it is, they have close to (between) 240 and 300 venture capital firms. These are the people that can understand risks,” he said, noting that conventional banks do not have the capacity to understand such risks.
Following the recent announcement by the National Bureau of Statistics, about the number of jobs created in 2014, Nweze commended the agency for its pro activeness under the current government, noting that unemployment figures are needed to help the government plan and also make policies to improve sectors providing jobs.
He noted that the informal sector, which had created more jobs in the past two quarters, needed a lot of attention as “government cannot create jobs”. He stressed that it is “entrepreneurship that creates jobs.”
According to him, small business make up the “engine growth of any economy” and if they do not thrive, the economy is headed for a fall.
“So we need to begin to make policies that would make it possible for this sector to grow”, he noted, berating government’s method of “encouraging small businesses to grow.”
He noted that funds were not available to small businesses and the problem of multiple taxation had not been eliminated.
Although President Goodluck Jonathan recently launched the National Council On Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to solve the prevailing problems, Nweze opined that the council would still demand “an arm and a leg” in exchange for loans.
“The thing is that, we are making a mistake by solving a problem by creating more problems. Now, until we begin to recognise the importance of Venture Capital firms, private equity firms.
“These are the people that will help. They have helped create finance businesses, encourage entrepreneurship.
