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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has highlighted the critical role of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in achieving Nigeria’s ambition to become a trillion-dollar economy within the next five years.
Speaking at the Enterprise Nexus Summit, held at the House of Representatives Complex in Abuja on Monday, Abbas—represented by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu—emphasised that nurturing a productive economy requires more than government intervention alone. He stressed that the government must enact legislation that protects innovation and encourages transparency.
According to Abbas, “The Renewed Hope Agenda aims to propel Nigeria into a trillion dollar economy in the next five years through the facility of small and medium scale enterprises. Global economic reports already show that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for over 90% of businesses worldwide, contributing nearly 70% of employment in many developing economies.
“The PriceWaterhouseCooper’s 2024 survey in Nigeria shows that SMEs account for over 84% of businesses and contribute about 48% to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and make up 96.8% of the total registered businesses in Nigeria.
“Sadly, half of these businesses fail within their first year of operation, largely because of poor access to formal credit, poor infrastructure, poor technology access, and weak management skills.”
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Addressing these challenges, Abbas called for legislative reforms that would incentivise financial institutions to lend to SMEs. He explained that policy support should, beyond access to credit, cover regulatory frameworks capable of both nurturing and, if poor, stifling growth.
“If our regulatory environment is burdened with complex licensing, high compliance costs, and opaque tax systems, we would only be stopping the growth of SMEs,” he said.
Abbas added: “Nigeria’s entrepreneurs have never lacked ideas or courage—what is missing is a system tailored to match their energy, where access, information, capital, and policy are aligned.
“Potential does not translate into prosperity unless the environment is intentionally structured to support it. This Summit is our attempt to close that gap—deliberately, structurally, and with strong institutional backing from the Office of the Speaker.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda places enterprise at the heart of national transformation. This is where the legislature must lead: by making sure the economy’s rules are coherent, modern, and reflect the realities of Nigeria’s young, innovative, and impatient population.”
