Nigeria eyes small businesses to drive economy: minister

Small businesses were the most dependable partners in driving Nigeria's economy to enviable heights, a top official said Tuesday.

Speaking in southern city of Enugu at the opening of the First Enugu Investment Summit, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, urged governments at all levels to pay greater attention to small and medium enterprises.

Fashola, represented at the event by the former Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Ayo Gbeleye, said local investors had the potential to secure economic inclusion through public-private partnership.

"While it is helpful to attract and secure big multi billion naira investors, they are usually not many enough to create the inclusion that you need," he said. "The more foreign they are, the more likely they will move when adverse conditions arrive."

"It is the small businesses like food processors, beer parlous, small food joints, shopping complexes, schools, small clinics, health centers and others that are more important to us," he said.

Fashola said the Nigerian government had understood the local investor as the more dependable partner of all time.

"This summit is a move that fits into the federal government's program of self-dependence, homegrown productivity, diversification and inclusion," he said.

The minister said the time was rife for the government to engender friendly environment to make the business climate more conducive for investors both local and foreign.

He said Nigeria was a large market, adding that with the right incentives and friendly environment, investments would thrive.

The minister advocated for regular meetings between the government and the private sector where government could listen to investors, proffers solutions and get feed backs. Endit