Manufacturers, banks seek free registration for start-ups, long-term dev’t plan
The Board of Economists at Daily Trust has recommended that the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) should introduce free business registration for start-ups to boost economic growth.
In a communiqué issued after the board held a Business Enhancement Roundtable in Abuja recently, the economists said, “The informal sector should be encouraged to register businesses with the CAC on a no-fee basis, to reduce the cost of start-ups for these categories of enterprises.”
The board, in the communiqué signed by the Chairman, Prof. Ode Ojowu, also advised the Federal Government to return to long-term development planning to replace the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) currently in place.
It said this is imperative as there is no proper planning for the expanding population in the country.
“The unplanned growth of the population and its drift to urban areas put severe stress on the slow growing urban infrastructure, which slows down the performance of the economy and promotes poverty,” the communiqué stated.
The economists cited China and India as model countries whose economies have continued to grow and develop because of their commitment to longterm development plans.
While tasking the youth on challenging poverty, the board urged them to seize the initiative through the generation of new ideas and make the government policy demand-driven to expand investment opportunities for their entrepreneurship development and employment.
To ease access to business financing, the Daily Trust Board of Economists said development banks should receive direct funding from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), “So they can lend between three and five per cent like their counterparts elsewhere.”
“It is recommended further that Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) should consider taking equity from Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) as a way of easing access to finance,” the economists said in the communiqué.
The roundtable attracted high level public sector officials, private sector CEOs, Association of the Small and Medium Enterprises, and about one hundred students from the Universities of Abuja and Nasarawa State, among others.