The Federal Government has revealed that they have successfully disbursed the sum of over N56. 842 billion to 1,079,323 (including those registered under CAC) for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) survival fund .
The Federal Government through the Minister of State, Industry , Trade and Investment, Amb Mariam Yalwaji revealed it on Tuesday in Abuja during the signaling the official flag-off of the Guaranteed Off-take Scheme which is one of the tracks of the MSME Survival Fund Scheme under the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP).
She explained that 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.
She further explained that out of this number, we have recorded 43% female-owned businesses and 3% special needs.
She said 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.
According to her , 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.
“Building on the successes recorded in the implementation of the other tracks of the Scheme and in line with the plan to fully rejuvenate the economy, especially MSMEs, in the manufacturing sector, the Federal Government is set to roll out the last component of the Survival Fund known as the Guaranteed Off-take Scheme (GOS).
“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.
In a related development, the MSME survival fund project coordinator, Mr Tola Adekunle said a total of 50,032 applicants have been pre-qualified and approved by the Steering Committee to proceed to the next stage for the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) survival fund .
