COVID-19: Furniture Dealers seek inclusion in CBN’s N50bn stimulus package 

The United Furniture Dealer’s Association Of NIGERIA has asked the federal government to include the association in the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) N50billion COVID-19 stimulus package for households and small businesses in the country.

This came as the Association’s President, Prince Emeka Egwuekwe commended the Federal Government over the inclusion of members of the association in the MSME scheme.

The Federal Government recently released the guidelines to access the N75 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survival Fund and Support Initiatives, which took effect from September 21, 2020.

The scheme, which is the core of the N2.3 trillion stimulus package of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan includes the N60 billion MSMEs Survival Fund and the N15 billion Guaranteed Offtake Schemes.

He stated that the furniture manufacturing industry has lost over N600million during the COVID-19 lockdown noting that if care is not taken a lot of companies will shut down after the pandemic.

According to Egwuekwe, the Apakata Onyii Of Enugwu-Agidi “the Government should look into our sector, the furniture industry as if care is not taken a lot of furniture dealers would go out of business after this COVID-19 pandemic, as the President of the United Furniture Association Of Nigeria I want the government to look at ways of including members in the CBN N50billion COVID-19 intervention loan, our members need this bailout loan as the furniture industry provides over 6,000 jobs if you go to Kugbo furniture market you will discover over 6,000 Nigerians making their living from the market.

“I tell you that after this COVID-19 a lot of companies will go extinct as most of our raw materials are imported from China, and since we have not been able to import for sometime and the companies are not working. So I am pleading with the Federal Government to include us in the bailout funds. We have lost over N600million not only in revenue, this market has lost over N600million because of the pandemic.

“The business aspect is closed people are crying and this is happening when the year was just picking so many imported goods but cannot clear it and others cannot replace their stock as I speak so many are still loosing so much money as they cannot get their goods or bill of lading to clear the goods we are in quagmire and calling for government intervention to save our businesses” he declared.