Don urges FG to give concessions, rebate to enhance SMEs

The Chancellor, Gregory University, Uturu (GUU), Prof. Greg Ibe, has advised the Federal Government to give concessions and rebate to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as part of economic stimulus package.

Ibe gave the advice when the leadership of Correspondents Chapel,  Nigeria Union of Journalists, Abia Council, visited him in his country home in Uturu, Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia.

He said that such economic relief from the government would help to rejuvenate the SMEs and make the economy more buoyant in the face of the current recession.

The renowned development consultant and founder of GUU advised against the federal government’s policy to regulate the price of agricultural produce.

He opined that the measure would be counterproductive.

Ibe said that it would be unjustifiable for the government to try to regulate the price of produce, when the price of raw materials and other inputs remained high.

“The forces of demand and supply should be allowed to determine the price of food items in the market because farmers and producers spend so much to get their raw materials,” he said.

Ibe expressed misgivings about federal government’s youth empowerment through cash handouts, saying that the nation’s youths should be encouraged to acquire skills.

He urged the government to embark on what he called “programme deliveries with strong expected outcomes”, similar to the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).

“Since the end of NAPEP where people, who were trained in different skills, were given equipment and cash to take off, there has not been any such programme in the country,” he said.

Ibe therefore urged the federal government to initiate a national skill acquisition programme for youths that would be replicated in the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

He said he had a World Bank project to train 2,000 youths in different skills from the “poorest of the poor” local councils in Abia, including Ohafia, Osisioma, Ugwunagbo, Ukwa East and Ukwa West.

Ibe also said that he had 100 Abia youths under his scholarship scheme in GUU in the fields of Agriculture, Insurance, Engineering and Radiology, amongst others.

He said that he strongly believes in the development of the youths at the community and local government levels primarily to check unemployment and rural-urban migration.