The Chairman, Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Kano Branch, Aminu Ibrahim Kurawa has called on the Kano State Government to ensure the state gets, if not the largest but good portion of the N500bn proposed palliative to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises through the Bank of Industry, proposed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Kurawa said the call became pertinent considering the large number of small-scale industries in the state, with over 10,000 registered members with the figures increasing almost on daily basis.
According to him, at a time the country is going through a difficult phase due to the fuel subsidy removal, the small-scale industries must not be ignored by both State and Federal Government in order to sustain their existence considering their significance and contribution to the nation’s economy.
Aminu, however charged the Kano State Government not to relent in the pursuit of the state’s share of the palliative and also look into the sharing formula and ensure kano gets a large share of the N500bn small-scale palliative as report has it that only 10 percent of the total sum will be shared amongst the Northwest states which he said is not good enough with Laos getting over 47 percent.
“We commend the FG for coming up with the palliative package for small-scale industries at a time like this.
“The subsidy removal as we all know has caused untold hardship in the country with the small-scale businesses bearing the brunt most. We believe such palliative will go a long way to cushion the effects of subsidy removal but the sharing formula must be reconsidered”.
“Reports says only 10 percent will be shared in Northwest as a whole while only Lagos is to get about 47 percent. Kano which is the Centre of Commerce should get over 10 percent alone not to talk of the whole region considering our large numbers”.
“We hope the Kano state government intervene in this issue and ensure the FG allocate Kano a good percentage and such funds be distributed through our Association in order to get it to the right persons”, he added.
Furthermore, he called on Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to also consider the Association at the state level by coming up with measures that will further ease affairs of its members with the views to create more and sustain employment among the youth who constitute a large part of the state population.