Nigeria's Informal Sector: 92.3% Workers Served by Just 1.25% of Programs

According to Akinola Morakinyo in MINT, Nigeria's informal sector employs 92.3% of workers but government programs reach just 1.25% of MSMEs—a stark mismatch exemplified by akara (bean cake) vendors like Nkechi Okonkwo, who need working capital and protection from arbitrary table confiscations. He proposes four interventions: rapidly scaling the World Bank's FINCLUDE program (approved Dec 2025) from 250,000 to 2.5 million MSMEs by 2030; vastly increasing SMEDAN's current N500 million revolving fund; operationalizing movable collateral registries for inventory-based loans; and creating a dedicated SME ministry modeled on South Africa's DSBD. Currently, status quo policies would reach only 1.8% of MSMEs by 2030 versus 18% with scaled interventions. For the 92.3% of Nigerians working informally, this gap means continued reliance on coal pots while wholesale discounts remain unclaimed. Policymakers must match program scale to the sector's actual economic footprint.

SOURCE: https://nairametrics.com/2026/06/30/the-akara-economy-the-economy-nigeria-runs-on-but-wont-fund/