Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said government would prioritise support for the informal sector to cushion the effects of COVID-19 disease on businesses in the country.
Osinbajo said this Wednesday at a virtual conference entitled “How Africa’s Informal Sector Reacts to COVID-19,” organisee by Africa.com.
He said providing support to small businesses in the informal sector should be a priority for all economies aiming at lessening any adverse effect of COVID-19 pandemic.
He said although Nigeria’s massive population constitute a challenge in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, the advantage of being able to manage the issues in smaller measure through the states has enabled authorities to reassess responses across sub-nationals and made adjust where necessary.
“Perhaps we have the advantage of being able to manage our problems in smaller measure, or by dividing them, of course we run a federation, which means that Gov. Nasir could do some very excellent work there in Kaduna, Lagos could do some excellent work, Ogun state and others could also do some excellent work.
“But of course, by the very nature of this pandemic, it also means that you run the risk of everything going south if some state isn’t doing as well as it ought to.
“I think, in the end, we have that advantage that we are able to almost isolate responses, and even look at best practices across the various states and try and ramp up wherever we find that there are deficiencies,” he said.
Speaking on some of the measures that are currently being implemented to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the economy, the Vice President said: “We have done a lot on conditional transfers especially within the context of our social investment policies, but we are now looking at how to possibly enlarge the scope of that and do more. We are looking beyond using cash transfers as if it were some incentive for staying at home.
“We are trying to see whether this can address some of the increasing problems of poverty that we are likely to find now given the disruptions in the economy. Aside from the lockdown, just the disruption in the economy have meant that the daily paid worker simply has no means of working and many laid off.”
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state also spoke on the efforts of the state government in containing spread of the disease and mitigating effects of some of the measures adopted by government to check the spread.
Others who spoke at the webinar were President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, Professor of Economics at Yale University, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak; and Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co, Amandla Ooko-Ombaka.
A Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, Mr. Hakeem Bello-Osagie; and the CEO of Africa.com, Teresa Clarke moderated the discussions.
