The National Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) has urged the Federal Government to adequately fund its financial institutions to ease the credit crunch being experienced by entreprenuers.

The Chairman, Lagos State chapter of NASSI, Mr Duro Kuteyi, made the call on Monday in Lagos in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He said that if government funded the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank, the Bank of Industry and others adequately, it would enhance accessibility to credit.

Kuteyi said the measure would enable members of the association to have access to credit at lesser interest rate and with less stringent conditions. He declared: “The issue of credit to all sectors should be tackled seriously, because commercial banks now hardly grant loan to us.

“As a result, more money should be allocated to government’s financial institutions to enable them to serve the economy better.” Kuteyi cited examples of countries like China, which had different government banks for each sector of the economy. He noted that the initiative by the Chinese government was part of measures that brought the country to its current status.

The chairman also urged the government to resuscitate the Bank for Commerce and Industry. “This is necessary because when the bank was in existence, it was servicing the sector better. Government should take a cue from China where there is a bank for each sector,” he added.

Kuteyi also appealed to government to ensure that NASSI members had access to the N130 billion that it recently approved for the real sector.

“If there is no proper monitoring, it is likely that only large business owners will benefit from the bail-out,” he added. NAN reports that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on July 21 approved the immediate disbursement of N130 billion for the refinancing and restructuring of the real sector of the economy.

The Minister of State for Information and Communication, Mr Labaran Maku, said the money was part of the N500 billion earmarked by government for the resuscitation of ailing industries in the country.