Niger State Charges Covid-19 Loan Beneficiaries To Be Prudent
By: Abdul Mohammed Isa Niger State
Governor Abubakar Sani of Niger State in Niger State North Central Nigeria; has charged beneficiaries of the Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery Stimulus Programme (NG-CARES) grant to be prudent in their businesses.
Governor Sani Bello stated this when he made a symbolic presentation of cheques to a few out of 411 second-phase beneficiaries of the grant in Minna the State Capital.
“I observed that there are no white collar jobs available for everyone, commended the initiative as it will help reduce the rate of unemployment and poverty in the society”.added Gov Sani Bello.
Governor Sani Bello in a statement by Mary Berje his spokesperson, however enjoined the beneficiaries to be good Ambassadors by making judicious use of the grant to boost their businesses.
“This is an effort to reduce unemployment. so it is expected that as you benefit from this grant it will benefit your business at the same time, encourage other people, especially graduates that are moving around for office jobs, there are no more office jobs”, he said.
The Niger State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mallam Zakari Abubakar, explained that NG-CARES is aimed at supporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) to recover from the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“Out of the total sum of N203.4 Million for the 411 beneficiaries, N300,000 Million is for operational support grant for 253 beneficiaries, 100 beneficiaries will get N600,000 each while 58 beneficiaries will have N300,000 each to ease financial burden”.added the Commissioner
The Commissioner Who further said about 239 businesses had already benefited from the sum of N71.7M in the first phase, mentioned that the support was from World Bank with the Bank of Industry (BOI) as their focal point.
The Director General Niger NG-CARES, Mallam Yahuza Abdullahi said: “The Ministry of Budget and Planning was to supervise the entire activities as the BOI was responsible for the entire process from the selection of the beneficiaries to the disbursement of the funds”.
Some of the beneficiaries expressed happiness and assured that they will judiciously utilize the grant to create wealth and jobs”.
Olusola Akintonde
