The Federal Government has said that it will start paying grants to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises that are successful to partake in the N75bn COVID-19 support schemes.
On September 10, 2020, the Federal Government inaugurated two schemes to financially support about 1.7 million MSMEs across the country with N75bn.
The schemes are the National MSME Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus Schemes under the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan.
The Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs, Office of the Vice President, who doubles as Project Coordinator, Survival Funds Scheme, Tola Adekunle disclosed to the media that payments to some beneficiaries of schemes would start this week.
He said, “Presently we are doing it in batches of 12 states to be able to monitor the scheme and as we speak now 12 states are ready. We are hoping that by the end of this week, we will be able to pay 12 states.
“We are starting with the artisans and it is 4,500 persons per state, plus 4,500 for transporters, bringing it to about 9,000 for each state. Right now, we have about 54,000 from 12 states.”