Oye raises alarm as 8m businesses collapse in 18 months,
Chairman, Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics (AERE), Dele Oye, has raised the alarm that an estimated eight million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) shut down across Nigeria between January 2023 and June 2024, representing about 20 per cent of the country’s estimated 40 million SMEs.
He also warned that the scale of the collapse exposes a deepening crisis in the sector, describing it as an existential threat to Nigeria’s economic foundation.
He disclosed the figures in a policy brief titled “The Gap: Nigeria’s Industrial Policy 2025 vs. The Lived Reality of SMEs.”
According to Oye, research consistently shows that as many as 95 per cent of Nigerian SMEs fail within their first five years of operation, highlighting the urgent need for policies that go beyond design to effective implementation.
Quoting the National President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Femi Egbesola, Oye described the situation as a humanitarian crisis.