Business
SMEs Owners Decry Poor Returns In Rainy Season
Owners of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are now divided over the effect of the rainy season on their financial base and progress of their businesses.
In an interview with The Tide, a motor dealer in Port Harcourt, Mr. Chiemela Ohunta said the rains have affected his business negatively as constant rains do not allow smooth running of his business.
Ohunta noted that the loan he collected and injected into his business in February from a microfinance bank has gone down with little or nothing to repay the loans.
He said that shops sometimes rose from morning till night due to constant rain falls, adding that rains damage motor parts but some cars are packed till dry season.
“My capital has gone down, though small money enters my hand. It is difficult to pay my bills this rainy season and this financial problem is not affecting only me,” he said.
Another businessman Mr. Effiong Benson, who is into farming decried the devastating effect of the rain on his investment, adding “I collected N400,000 loan from a microfinance bank to do my farm business.
“I hired a land and used the rest of the fund to cultivate and plan which was doing well before the heavy rains that flooded the whole place, destroying the crops and putting me indebt and confusion,” he said.
He called on well-meaning individuals to come to his aid, stating that finance has been his problem before now, which he thought would have been over with the loan he got from the bank. In a related development, Mrs Rose Ndukwe who sells clothes complained bitterly that the rains have spoilt her business, adding that her profits can hardly cater for her family of five.
Ndukwe said that she is looking for how to increase her financial base and buy more goods, since rains spoilt her good.
A hair dresser, Miss Joy Joseph told The Tide that rain did not have any negative effect on her business, adding that she makes more money because hair styles easily get damaged under the rain.
She noted that her business is giving her money to take care of her needs under the rainy season.
Lilian Peters & Ekeke Favour C
Business
NAFDAC Decries Circulation Of Prohibited Food Items In markets …….Orders Vendors’ Immediate Cessation Of Dealings With Products
Importers, market traders, and supermarket operators have therefore, been directed to immediately cease all dealings in these items and to notify their supply chain partners to halt transactions involving prohibited products.
The agency emphasized that failure to comply will attract strict enforcement measures, including seizure and destruction of goods, suspension or revocation of operational licences, and prosecution under relevant laws.
The statement said “The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised an alarm over the growing incidence of smuggling, sale, and distribution of regulated food products such as pasta, noodles, sugar, and tomato paste currently found in markets across the country.
“These products are expressly listed on the Federal Government’s Customs Prohibition List and are not permitted for importation”.
NAFDAC also called on other government bodies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Shippers Council, and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), to collaborate in enforcing the ban on these unsafe products.
