The Equipment Leasing Association of Nigeria (ELAN) has called on the Federal Government (FG) to seek innovative ways to acquire the capital equipment needed to enhance production in the country in order to achieve the desired economic growth even as the government and businesses continue to feel the crunch of limited funds.
As a way to successfully navigate the downward trend in the Nigerian economy, business community and as well as individuals, Mr. Andrew Efurhievwe, Executive Secretary, ELAN while speaking exclusively to Business247 News Online, tasked the FG to adequately explore the leasing option to meet all their equipment needs.
In his words: “It becomes imperative to seek innovative ways to acquire the capital equipment needed to enhance production and achieve the desired economic growth. One of such ways is leasing, which can facilitate easy and convenient access to the much needed capital equipment in these challenging times. To a large extent, these present opportunities for the leasing industry, as more businesses and institutions turn to leasing to meet their needs”.
“Equipment leasing globally, has been established as a creative financing alternative that facilitates access to capital equipment. The whole essence of leasing is to enhance the planning, improvement and development of any economy by building and supporting productive ventures”, he added.
Efurhievwe enumerated the numerous benefits of equipment leasing to the lessees to include flexibility in lease rental payment, no need of collateral, conservation of working capital, easy accessibility of equipment, among others.
Stating further, he mentioned that since its inception in Nigeria, leasing has been supporting economic development, stressing that today, the impact of leasing is pronounced in all sectors of the economy, enhancing capital formation, generating employment and creating wealth.
According to him, “the contribution of leasing in the past 15 years to the economy is over N5.93 trillion and is becoming more relevant in our prevailing situation where access to finance, especially for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), is difficult”.
He acknowledged the government’s effort at improving the business environment for the practice of leasing in Nigeria, by enacting the Equipment Leasing Act 2015. The Act, he said, would stimulate leasing development, creating sanity, certainty and encouraging more investments into the economy.
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