How 8m SME businesses shut down in 18 months – ASBON

The National President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Mr Femi Egbesola, has said that at least 8 million small businesses in Nigeria have shut down in 18 months due to the economic hardship.

Egbesola said that approximately 20% of businesses were compelled to stop operations from January 2023 to June 2024, attributing this alarming trend to the economic policies implemented by President Buhari & Tinubu’s administrations.

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Speaking in an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on September 6, he said: “We have had cases where businesses shut down. We have around 40 million small businesses in the country and with 20% already shut, it would mean that we have about 8 million businesses shut.

Many persons have died from shutting their businesses, some could not fulfil their loan obligations, so they died from the pressure. Others are in the hospital as of now. A state of economy should be declared as we are the highest employer of labour (referring to small-scale businesses).