Kalu stated that the South-East loses between N10 billion and N13 billion in the transportation sector alone, adding that the region observes sit-at-home day every day.
The House of Representative Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, has stated that the country’s South-East region loses about N13billion weekly due to the sit-at-home order.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Deputy Speaker said this on Friday in Abuja when executive members of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASMEs) visited him.
The NASMEs executives were led by the association's president, Abdulrashid Yerima.
Kalu stated that the South-East loses between N10 billion and N13 billion in the transportation sector alone, adding that the region observes sit-at-home day every day.
He said, “When they sit at home in the South-east, the South-west, South-south, North-west, North-east and North-central are not sitting at home.
“Prices of goods and services will suffer if there is insecurity in the land,” he noted.
In a response to the NASME president’ appeal for the enactment of laws that would support the growth of SMEs in Nigeria, Kalu said the National Assembly would address the concerns raised by the delegation.
“We must seek the growth of SMEs, there must be laws to support it.
“We must examine existing laws that are not SMEs-friendly. That way, we can address some of the economic challenges facing the country via SMEs,” the deputy speaker said.
He said recent data indicated that SMEs accounted for 48 per cent of national GDPs in emerging economies, just as the World Bank had declared that SMEs play a pivotal role in job creation.
“We believe in SMEs because without them major corporations cannot exist. We must support and promote the growth of SMEs,” he stressed.