Small-Scale Business Owners Get COVID-19 N1BN Grant In Ogun

Shortlisted small-scale business owners operating in Ogun State have received N350,000(three hundred and fifty thousand naira) each while micro entrepreneurs got N100,000 each under the first tranche of the  State Government's COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Programme (OG-CARES)

The beneficiaries  confirmed receipt of the business support grant paid through the Bank of Industry (BOI) directly to their respective accounts.

         

Members of Trade Groups such as; Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Joint National Association of Persons Living With Disabilities (JONAPWD), Artisans Groups, Market Men and Women (Baba Olojas and Iya Olojas) and entrepreneurs operating within Community Development Councils (CDCs) across the twenty Local Government Areas of the State were part of the first batch of beneficiaries.    

          

Confirming the payment, the Iyaloja of Ogun state, Chief Mrs. Oluyemisi Abass, appreciated the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun for providing the grant support to the small and medium-scale entrepreneurs, while Mrs. Afolasade Ajayi of Imosan Community Development Association in Odogbolu Local Government,    Abiodun Sobayo from Sagamu, and Oluwadamilare Oyebanji , a Person Living With Disability, among other beneficiaries promised to ensure judicious use of the grant.

           

While reacting to the development, Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo, who is also the Chairman State CARES Steering Committee, said the grant was released to applicants who completed the online application form and satisfied the screening and verification criteria.

          

Mr. Okubadejo affirmed that the first batch of operational grant disbursement was made directly to business owners operating within the State, regardless of whether they are indigenes or not, to cushion the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on their businesses.

          

He urged all beneficiaries to utilize the grant for the development of their businesses and desist from diverting the grant to unentrepreneurial expenses that may jettison the overall objective of the grant on the economic growth of the State.

         

 The committee chairman informed that the program is still ongoing, enjoining more entrepreneurs to go online to complete their application and upload all necessary documents, as the second batch of disbursements would soon be made.