In an era where access to information is just some keystrokes away – via all sorts of computer-driven contraptions, laptops, PDAS/smart phones, iPods etc, it is still a horrendous task gaining access to key information in Nigeria. And I mean information relating to doing business in the country, information solely controlled by the Nigerian government.
I have had five inquiries within the last five weeks from some Nigerian friends/acquiantances in the Diaspora wanting to invest in the country. They all felt I would know some things they don’t since I seem to spend some decent time on the Internet researching and blogging. Although I do not have this impression of myself, I did, however shared my meager knowledge with them, emailing some entries on this blog that relates to the issues raised.
The common factor in all the discussions was funding, and that led to the Small and Medium Enterprises Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS) – the fund-pool for small businesses, and the Small and Medium Scale Industries Development Agency (SMEDAN), The Nigerian equivalent of the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). These two state-created entities are suppose to deal with many of the issues those folks wanted resolved from their bases in America.
The reality is, it’s simply impossible! All the links posted above were embedded in the posts I sent, while valuable in terms of background information, they all proved to be utterly worthless in a practical sense. The SMEDAN does not offer any other service than the basic information on the program. Although a handful of banks provided additional information on small business fund scheme, the SMEDAN website came really short.
As much as the Nigerian government tries to sell the country to foreign investors, the reality on ground indicates that those in charge in Abuja are far removed from reality. I am perplexed that all my country does is just blow hot air heavily laden with policy statements. It’s not enough to just do the talk, the Nigerian government must also walk the talk, and walk it smartly and efficiently!
There are redundant websites such as SMEDAN’s belonging to several Nigerian agencies. It appears the notion in some Nigerian government circle is that once a website is up the job is done. No sir, that is just the beginning of the job!
The Internet does more than information dissimination and being a repository for policy documents, it is a must-have business tool and an apparatus to offer services to the people being served, particularly in a country like Nigeria with limited information system and where significant portion of its nationals are in the Diaspora. At times I wonder of what relevance is the Nigerian [tag]ICT[/tag] professional association. One can understand if those pot-bellied politicians have no clue, but what of the the thousands of ICT profesionals in the country? They can and should advice!
By the way, I do not know how to react to the fact that since the inception of the SMEEIS in 1999, 225 projects have been funded so far. This is not good enough.
Leave a Reply