SME sector must also restructure

Nigeria is becoming an unbearably harsh and noisy place. And this has nothing to do with the sound of sirens used by most big men in public positions. Nor the sound of domestic power generators, which produce much of the electricity used by the citizens. Nobody complains about generator noise anymore, because we are all in that business together – the business of generator noise pollution. If your generator disturbs your neighbour and he doesn’t reply by powering up his own, do not celebrate. He is probably using his power inverter, which is the new income drainer for Nigerian families. But the inverter will soon scream for help and he will turn on the generator. Inverters have become the first standby power source in the country, while the DISCOs, the unworthy descendants of the failed privatisation of the national carrier, PHCN, are the second standby power source. That is the reality and one of the many tragedies of our beloved country.

The current heat is coming from the endless comments about restructuring Nigeria. We have always had debates in Nigeria, most of which have been a waste of time. Many may recall the IMF debate during the military era. Of course, that debate produced what seemed to be a consensus on whether Nigeria should access the IMF loan or not, but the government did exactly the opposite of the outcome of the debate. There have been many national conferences but they all get junked. It does appear that the current debate is turning to a battle between those who want a united equitable country and those that do not. This is the time we need patriotic leaders to speak.

Everybody knows that the problem with Nigeria is its habit of defrauding itself. Some people wonder why many seem to loathe and consider us, at best, crooked. We do not speak the truth at all no matter the issue. When everything around one is a fraud, it would be only a matter of time before one smells like fraud. Any wonder why we are in this sad pass.

Just look at the federation we claim we are. That is a big fraud. Nigeria is a unitary state and that is why the federal Accountant General is being prompted to go and audit state governments to see what they do with the monies they collect from Abuja. Or is it the shameful failure of most so-called federal institutions to guide the leader to do justice to all peoples? Isn’t it amazing that some people at the Federal Character Commission are still being paid with public funds when they have patently failed to help governments to do equity and justice to the people and thereby save us this restiveness – the sole purpose of their existence? Nigerians should hold those at the Federal Character Commission responsible for the current clamour for the dismemberment of one of the finest and most endowed countries in the world. We should stop pretending as if we do not know that we have robbed our country of many bountiful years of peace and prosperity by our insincerity.

For us in the SME advocacy sector, I think we can learn and profit from the current situation in the political scene. Without doubt, there is need for some restructuring in our individual and sectoral affairs. The good thing here is, unlike in the larger society, where people are struggling to keep what they got from “the looting of Nigeria”, we have no such burdens. But like Nigeria, we should not expect our breakthrough under our present circumstances. We should therefore proceed to “restructure” our organizations to make them fitting receptacles of the many good things coming to the SME sector.

We can also, like Nigeria, get technical by splitting hair over the meaning of restructuring. We can insist it means different things to different SMEs or insist that we are good the way we are. The truth is that most of the players, like some states in Nigeria, have no existence beyond the person of the owner. A situation where over 95 per cent of our 37million SMEs are microenterprises is laughable. Not only does this connote huge lost tax revenues, it also shows an abject lack of progress among them. If they were making progress and transforming to proper businesses, the ratios wouldn’t be different.

One of the clear points agreed in a recent discussion among SMEs is that finance has long since ceased to be the main problem. We have all kinds of funds now at our disposal. As if that is not enough, the Legislature has passed certain laws that make your hitherto unbankable assets bankable. We can now use them to secure loans. But as I said recently, there is no need to rush to the bank. We must know what we need money for and our capacity to use it properly before we borrow.

I have always maintained that those who want to get married should get into the attitude of marriage – be in humane environments, act like they are ready for parenting and avoid anti-family values environments, because for the lady, his mother will ask him where he found you. Similarly, those who want to pray must get into the attitude of prayer – kneeling, bowing and all the sanctimonious things. The truth is that it is not the assets of the SME that are not bankable. It is the SME itself.

The new battlefield should be within. In a recent meeting, I was surprised to find that very few operators knew anything about the recent law passed on Movable Assets as collateral for bank loans. We must learn as much as possible. However, knowledge alone is no longer power; execution power must be assured – the new paradigm.

Our internal restructuring of SMEs should begin with a decision to better organize the business. Many of us are entrepreneurs by chance. It’s fine but carrying our CVs as you go marketing for the business is a dream killer. It means at the least opportunity of paid employment, we junk the dream. The danger here is that you will neither be a good ambassador of the business nor a good job hunter. If you don’t focus on your vision you cannot drive it.

Emeka Osuji