The Nigerian government says it has disbursed over 56 billion naira to 1,079,323 beneficiaries across the 36 States and the FCT under its MSME Survival Fund Scheme.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, Maryam Katagum stated this at the flag-off of the Guaranteed Off-take scheme in Abuja.
According to her, “under the Payroll Support Scheme, our initial target was to reach 500,000 beneficiaries. Our current standing is put at 459,334 successful beneficiaries across the 36 States and the FCT. Out of this number, we have recorded 43% female-owned businesses and 3% special needs.”
“The Artisan and Transport Scheme had an initial target of 333,000 Artisan and Transport beneficiaries. We currently stand at 293,336 successful beneficiaries across the 36 States and the FCT.”
“The CAC Formalization Support Scheme set out to register 250,000 new businesses and I can report that to date, 244,162 small and growing enterprises have been successfully registered free of charge, across the 36 States and the FCT.
Also, the General MSME Grants Scheme had its initial target set at 100,000 MSMEs and we have successfully completed the provision of grants to a total of 82,491 till date,” Katagum said.
Intervention for small businesses
The Minister explained that the Guaranteed Off-take scheme was conceived as part of the Federal Government’s interventions to assist small and growing businesses that were negatively affected by the pandemic.
“It is important to inform you at this point that this track had an initial target of 100,000 MSMEs across the country. By the time the portal closed, we had received a total of 65,976 applications across the country out of which we have verified and pre-qualified 50,032 MSMEs that we are presently processing to off-take their products.
The MSME Survival Fund Project Coordinator, Mr Tola Adekunle said the pre-qualified applicants will receive text messages and e-mail requiring them to return to MSME Survival Fund Portal to complete their documentation.
“The total value of each Grant is N100, 000. Applicants who successfully return to the portal to complete their documentation will receive N30, 000 to commence production of their selected item,” he said.
Nneka Ukachukwu
