Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NewChip Technologies Limited, Mr. Jesufemi Adeogun, has warned that Nigeria’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are being slowly strangled by policy failures, weak infrastructure and the absence of direct government support, urging the Federal Government to urgently rethink its approach to the sector.

Speaking at a news conference in Lagos, Adeogun said the survival of SMEs is central to economic growth, employment creation and GDP expansion, stressing that no country can prosper while its small businesses are shutting down in large numbers.

“A nation where SMEs are struggling to survive cannot make meaningful progress,” he said, adding that the sector requires urgent and deliberate government intervention. Adeogun, who also chairs the Grassroots Multipurpose Corporate Society, an association of SME managers and directors said NewChip Technologies was founded with a clear mission to support business survival through technology and capacity development within Nigeria’s difficult operating environment.

Drawing from the company’s extensive engagement with SMEs across sectors, he identified epileptic power supply, multiple taxation, weak consumer purchasing power and lack of access to funding as the most critical challenges facing businesses.

According to him, thousands of SMEs have folded up in recent years due to conditions that could be addressed through targeted policies and incentives.

While acknowledging that the Tinubu administration has introduced reforms in other areas of the economy, Adeogun expressed disappointment over what he described as the absence of grants and direct intervention programmes for SMEs.