Nigerian artisans and transporters numbering 330,000 are to benefit from free grant in the federal government’s Artisan Support Scheme, under the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survival Fund.
Already 59,000 of the Artisans from 24 states had been empowed last November 25 in the stream one and two of the scheme .
Each of the beneficiaries received N30,000 to support his/ her business under the recently launched Federal government empowermen scheme .
The MSME Survival Fund Scheme is part of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP), put together to cushion the harsh effects of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Nigerians, particularly small scale businesses .
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande made this known in a statement .
“The launch of the transport track last Monday follows the successful take-off of the Artisans’ Support track on October 1st. While the Artisans track is under the Survival Fund, the Transport track is a different scheme also under the Fund",he explained.
According to Akande “verified Artisans have started receiving the N30,000 one-time grants, Nigerians operating in the transport business – including Rideshare drivers (Uber, Bolt, etc.),
He added that' Taxi drivers, Bus drivers, Keke Napep riders, Okada riders, cart pushers etc.now have the opportunity to benefit from the scheme.
“The Artisan track is being implemented in three streams, and as of November 25, a total number of 59,000 individual Artisan beneficiaries have been paid across 24 states in Stream 1 and Stream 2 States"
He listed the states to include FCT, Lagos, Ekiti, Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Abia, Rivers, Plateau, Delta, Taraba, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Edo, Ogun, Ondo, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Enugu and Ebonyi states
Akande revealed that" the verification process for artisans under Stream 3 states commenced on Monday, November 30. Stream 3 states comprise Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Niger, Imo, Oyo, Osun, Jigawa, Gombe and Benue."
According to him“Under this Artisan Support scheme, a total of 333,000 Artisans and Transport business operators nationwide will get one-time operations grant of N30,000 per beneficiary to reduce the effects of income loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic"
“There will be a total of 9,009 beneficiaries per state for both Artisan and Transport beneficiaries. Of this number per state, there will be a total of 4,505 beneficiaries under the transport scheme, while the remaining 4,504 will be artisan beneficiaries.
“For the Transport track, Nigerians are encouraged to apply through their registered Associations to be enumerated, such as the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Keke Riders’ Association, Okada Riders’ Associations and Unions, among others.
Akande in the statement said that all schemes were applied to beneficiaries on first come ,first serve basis
“State focal persons, project field officers, enumerators and others will work alongside the MSMEs Survival Fund Project Delivery Office to properly identify and ensure that members of the respective associations are paid.",he stated.
“He added that "There is also provision for individuals who are members of Associations but will rather apply directly with the enumerators. However, such individual applicants in the transport cluster must show their proof of membership of an association to be enumerated.
Akande asked Nigerians to take advantage of the grant which according to him, are absolutely free to be paid directly into beneficiaries' account unlike other schemes of the Buhari administration to support different categories of Nigerians.
“Nigerians are encouraged to speak up if anyone tries to charge a fee or subvert this arrangement" he stated.
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