The Federal Government says that it has disbursed over N66 billion to 1.258 million Nigerians under its Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Survival Fund and Guarantee Off-Take Scheme.
This was made known by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Mariam Katagum, at a town hall meeting of beneficiaries of the MSME Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-Take Scheme in Abuja.
The meeting which set out to highlight the scheme’s achievements in the country as well as receive beneficiaries’ feedback on all tracks of the scheme, took place simultaneously in Lagos, Kano, Bauchi, Enugu and Edo states.
Katagum said that the scheme from the federal government was initiated to stimulate the economy after the Covid-19 lockdown, especially for small and medium-scale businesses and self-employed individuals previously gainfully employed.
What the Minister is saying
Katagum said that the implementation of the survival fund across the five tracks yielded positive results, with the tracks namely Payroll Support Scheme, Artisan and Transport Scheme, Formalisation Support Scheme, General MSME Grants Scheme, and Guaranteed Off-take Scheme.
She said, “Under the Payroll Support Scheme, the target was to augment the payroll obligations of MSMEs in the health, production, education, hospitality, and food production sectors.
“In total, 490,408 employees received between N30,000 and N50,000 as three months’ salaries in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Artisan and Transport Scheme was designed to provide a one-off N30,000 grant to 333,000 beneficiaries.
“We currently have 398,260 self-employed individuals and MSMEs who have benefitted across the 36 states and the FCT.’’
Katagum added that the CAC Formalisation Support Scheme had achieved 100% as 250,000 businesses had been successfully registered across the 36 states and the FCT.
- She said, “The General MSME Grants Scheme gave a one-off N50,000 grant to MSMEs and the target was 100,000 MSMEs. A total of 82,491 businesses have benefitted from the scheme.
- “Similarly, the Guaranteed Off-take Scheme (GOS) recorded a total of 37,024 beneficiary businesses out of the target of 100,000 beneficiaries.
- “Under this scheme, the off-take items were products such as face masks, hand sanitisers, food items among others from micro and small businesses across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
- “These items were later handed over to the state governments and the FCT for onward distribution to schools, hospitals, NGOs, as well as other public and private institutions.
- “Overall, the fund has disbursed the sum of N66,000,020,000 directly to 1,258,183 beneficiaries, including those registered by Corporate Affairs Commission.’’
The minister, however, noted that there were initial lack of trust by the beneficiaries as it required obtaining their details, including BVN.
She said, “The above is closely related to the initial apathy by Nigerians on government intervention programmes as they assumed that one needed to know someone to benefit from the scheme.
“There was a heavy reliance on the use of Information Communication Technology for transparency and traceability, which also, left the programme susceptible to attempts at infiltration by internet scammers.
“There were also instances of multiple applications, using forged documentation, fake beneficiaries, and attempts to bribe officials to bypass the processes.’’
What you should know
- The MSME Survival Fund, which is part of the N2.3 trillion stimulus package of the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan, was introduced by the Federal Government as part of efforts to help businesses overcome challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The MSME Survival Fund scheme is a conditional grant to support vulnerable micro and small enterprises in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguarding jobs in the MSMEs sector.
- The scheme is expected to save at least 1.3 million jobs across the country and specifically impact over 35,000 individuals per state