Now we know what is happening why all the huge funds voted for supporting small businesses in Nigeria are not getting to them.
Within
a four-year period covering 2014 to 2018, over $1bn was lost by the country to
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises-related corruption, a report released on
Wednesday in Abuja has revealed. 
The report titled “Stolen
dreams: How corruption negates government assistance to Nigeria’s small
businesses” was produced by the Carnegie Endowment International Peace in
collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
The
key findings of the report were presented by the Lead Partner, Sustainable
Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Initiative, Mr Celestine Okeke.
Based on the Central Bank
official rate of N306 to a dollar, the $1bn translates into about N306bn.
The
report said the N306bn lost to MSME-related corruption exceeds Nigeria’s
capital expenditure on health and education combined for the four years period
covering 2014 to 2018.
It said the N306bn lost by the
country includes missing and unaccounted funds disbursed to small businesses
through legislators’ constituency projects, the Cassava Bread Initiative and
the various loans schemes such as the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Development Fund and the Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme.
The report reads in part,
“Corruption is endemic within Nigerian government agencies meant to help MSMEs.
Relative to their high costs, these agencies programmes appear to help very few
people.
“Instead they are set up to
fail, eroding trust in government and functioning as conduits for embezzlement,
contract fraud, deliberate waste and the distribution of political patronage.
“Exacerbated by mismanagement and broader policy failures, this form of corruption has disproportionately high multiplier effects. It inflicts lasting damage and opportunity costs on a sector that employs 84 per cent of Nigerian workers and contributes about 50 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
