TO commemorate Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary on October 1, the Federal Government is ready to disburse about N300m to 333,000 artisans and transporters under the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-Take Stimulus Scheme.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Yalwaji Katagum, made this known in Abuja at a media briefing on the Scheme.
Katagum, who is the Chairperson, Steering Committee of the Scheme, said each beneficiary would be given a one-off payment of N30,000.
She noted that the target beneficiaries included mechanics, taxi drivers, hairdressers, keke NAPEP riders, okada riders, plumbers, and electricians among others.
According to her, beneficiaries from 12 states will benefit from the first phase of the scheme.
The states, according to the minister, include: Lagos, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Plateau and Borno. Others are Ekiti, Anambra, Abia, and the Federal Capital Territory.
Katagum said 174,574 MSME operators had so far registered for the Scheme with five states recording the highest.
She, however, warned applicants to beware of fraudsters as they had been making attempts at circumventing the application process.
She said, “We would however like to draw the attention of the public to attempts by scammers and other undesirable elements to swindle innocent Nigerians with promises of assured disbursements for a fee.
“The Survival Fund will not at any time or for any reason request payment or facilitation fees to access the Grants.
“The public is encouraged to report any such nefarious activities to the nearest security agents and follow up with a report to the PDO via the mediums provided on the website.”
She said registration for the MSME Survival Fund commenced on September 21 at 11pm, and within the first 24 hours, approximately 138,000 individuals had logged on, created profiles, and completed the first stage of registration with Kano, Kaduna, and Lagos as the lead states.
The Minister said all successful applicants received SMS and email verification with a list of requirements for the second stage of application, which will commence on October 1.
According to her, applicants will be required to upload details supporting their applications which will be verified and if successful, approved for disbursements.
The minister added that states that recorded the highest number of applications in the first 24hrs of registration were Kano (16,880); Kaduna (11,438); Lagos (10, 530); Katsina (7,354); and Bauchi (6,622).
She said as at 8.30am on Thursday, total successful registrations stood at 174,574, out of which Kano had 19,895; Kaduna, 13,575; Lagos, 13,640; Katsina, 8,383; and Federal Capital Territory, 8,085.
Also speaking, the Special Assistant to the President on MSME, Tola Johnson, said N75bn had already been set aside by the Federal Government for the National MSME Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-Take Stimulus Scheme under the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan.
Johnson said the gesture was to assist MSME operators, owing to the negative impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.
