Yobe state is one of the north-east states in Nigeria that has had a taste of insurgency occasioned by the Boko Haram terrorists. The state government came to the realization that the only way to discourage the youths of the state from involving in criminal activities is to promote small and medium enterprises and engage them. Governor Mai Mala Buni created an office for small and medium businesses for that purpose. An Abuja-based BusinessDay Editorial team spoke with Abubakar Adamu Fika, the Special Adviser in charge of that office. Excerpts:
What does your office entail?
I am the Yobe State focal person for Small Scale and Medium Enterprises. The office was created specifically to help assist small and medium enterprises in Yobe State because one thing you will notice is that most of our companies are left behind in terms of even basic registration like Tax Identification Number (TIN). Therefore, the state government created this office specifically so that we can assist these companies to meet up to requirements as companies in other states.
How long have you been in this position and what would you say about the SMEs?
I was appointed on 1st of September, 2020 and I swung into action immediately. I organized a town hall meeting where I invited the majority of the small business owners in Yobe State. We communicated with them through the state radio and television. When we organized the meeting we heard what their major challenges were.
One of the major challenges they had in Yobe state was that most of the federal agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), don’t have offices in Yobe state so, it is going to be difficult for some of these companies to be ‘accredited’. They have to go to Bauchi or Maiduguri and considering that Maiduguri is much closer to Damatru and the insecurity in that axis, it was hard for all these companies to meet up with federal requirements. There’s one issue we have in Yobe State, majority of the people are reliant on government so government wants to find a way whereby they will reduce dependency on state government because our Internally Generated Revenue is not that much. So, the best way to reduce that reliance on government is to empower the small and medium enterprises in Yobe state so that they can create more jobs and provide a better livelihood for our people.
Well, the level of contribution of the SMEs is that they employ so many people. You know, you have so many small businesses like the business centres, the telecom operators, like people who sell recharge cards. They employ many people. The SMEs in Yobe state have contributed immensely to the employment youths because if you leave your youths without an employment that is when they will be tempted to join insurgency and other ills that youths involve like drug abuse and other social vices. So, I believe the SMEs in Yobe state are coming of age and the creation of the SMEs office in the state will also help boost the development of those small companies in the state.
What is your agenda for SMEs?
My number one agenda is to create a conducive environment where our medium and small enterprises will thrive. Recently, I have been meeting with a lot of federal agencies and also some banks on how they can make loans accessible to Yobe state businesses. We are trying to propose how we can get collateral free loans. May be you can just get a guarantor to stand in for you to access those loans. So, I think there is a bit of success because these small and medium enterprises in Yobe state have been testifying that since the creation of the office, they now have access to engage with the government because before now they did not have somewhere to go; the office is now serving as a like a gateway. So, the office serves as a gateway for them to come and get information and also assistance in terms of coordinating with those federal agencies. The office serves as a gateway where they can process their applications and also render them all sort of assistance they may need. And also, at the Yobe MSMEs/SMEs office, we are trying to create a Yobe hub, to be like a one stop shop for businesses and business men where they can get access to research and development, to also connect them with partners who can buy their products or where they can buy machinery and other equipment.
Like some of these companies who are into production, they tend to need access to machinery. But sometimes they don’t know where to get the machinery. All they do before was, maybe they go to Kano. But through the office, they now have links to Lagos, Port Harcourt, and other places where the equipment would be cheaper than Kano. So, the office serves as a gateway to those businesses.
Does the state government have anything like incentive schemes?
From time to time, the state government organises workshops where they engage the SMEs to channel all the problems they are facing so that the government will see where to come in. So, the Yobe state government is doing its best to assist the SMEs. In the areas of grant, I was also the focal person for the survival fund, it’s a federal government initiative. As a result of the COVID-19, the federal government initiated the survival fund. I was in charge of the survival fund and we did our utmost best to ensure that it was equitably distributed across the 17 local governments in Yobe state. You don’t really need to know somebody to qualify for that grant. As long as you are a company and you meet the requirement, we will ensure you get the grant.
How much was disbursed and what did an average Yobe indigene get?
Well, the survival fund scheme is in bits and pieces. There are different schemes like the payroll scheme, meant for about13,000 staff of small and medium enterprises in Yobe state that are supposed to benefit. It is still an ongoing project so we cannot say for certain that 13, 000 people got the grant. We are still at the implementation stage. But at the end of the day, I believe that the quota of Yobe state, that the money allocated to 13,000 applicants for the payroll roll scheme will be given out to them.
How much have you received so far from the federal government?
As I said, it is an ongoing project so we cannot say for certain how much has been channelled to Yobe State, and the survival fund is a scheme that was implemented in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. So far, we cannot say how much has been released because it is an ongoing scheme but there is an approximation of 13, 000 people to benefit from the scheme. And there is also the Business formalization portal. 6,600 new businesses will be created free of charge for people in Yobe State like so many other states. So far, I think we have registered almost 6,000 businesses.
What will you say is the mainstay of the Yobe state economic growth?
The mainstay of the Yobe State economy is the agricultural sector. You know, thousands of people are engaged in agricultural activities. We produce rice in large quantity. Yobe state is one of the largest producers of rice in Nigeria. As you know, we are blessed with over 40, 000 square kilometres of land in Yobe state, and most of our indigenes are engaged in farming activities such as rice, millets, beans and other grains which we also sell out to other states. We have food in abundance in Yobe state. Agriculture is one of our mainstays and Yobe state is also blessed with large deposit of mineral resources such as Gypsum, Kaolin, limestone and other unexplored mineral resources. So, Yobe state is one of the most blessed states in Nigeria in terms of mineral resources. The Yobe State government is actively working to engage consultants who will bring foreign Direct Investment who into the mineral sector.
So far, have you started speaking with investors?
Well, you know Yobe state government even in the past, we have engaged several consultants and investors but so far, nothing has come into effect in terms of bringing in Foreign Direct Investment or even local investment to Yobe State because it’s a capital intensive industry and you need so much investment in terms of equipment. So, the Yobe State government is doing its best in terms of bringing the right people who we can partner to achieve our objective.
What is the government doing about attracting investment into the state?
The Yobe state government is tirelessly looking for partners who will help to develop the state. As you know, it is one of the few slow growing states in Nigeria but that will not hold us back that is why we are engaging consultants and investors who will bring investment into Yobe State. And I think the government is creating conducive environment to encourage investors to come to Yobe state. Of course, we have invested in roads linking local governments. The whole of Yobe state is linked by good road network. In terms of security, the state government has ensured in collaboration with the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Police to make sure that the state is secure for investors to come in because no investor will come if your state is not secured, if there is no adequate security or if there is no government support to those investors. You know the government will ensure that those businesses who come in will be catered for and supported adequately.
