The Federal Government will, this week, commence the payment of N50,000 to each of the new batch of beneficiaries of its Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) Survival Fund.
500,000 Nigerians are to benefit from the scheme in furtherance of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s support for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic under its ESP Survival Fund’s Payroll support track and the one-off General MSME Grant.
Spokesperson to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, in a release on Sunday disclosed that the number of beneficiaries under the Payroll Support track, was 319,755 while 265,425 Nigerians were beneficiaries under the Artisan and Transport Support track.
Of the 265,425 beneficiaries, there are 118,581 beneficiaries under Artisan support track, and 146,844 beneficiaries under the Transport track.
According to him, the payroll support track aimed to support 500,000 beneficiaries with payment of up to N50,000 per employee for a period of three months.
The MSME Survival Fund,, he stated, was a component under the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan, NESP, which is designed to support vulnerable Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard jobs in the MSMEs sector.
Read Akande further:
“The General MSME Grant is a one-off grant of N50,000 that will be given to each qualified MSME as direct cash injection into their enterprise.
“The total number of beneficiaries in this track is 100,000 spread across the States.
“In the same vein, under the Artisan Support scheme, a total of 333,000 Artisans and Transport business operators nationwide will get a one-time operations grant of N30,000 per beneficiary to reduce the effects of income loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The processing of applications for the Guaranteed Offtake Stimulus Scheme is still ongoing and the commencement of this track will be announced on a later date.
“The Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus Scheme is aimed at protecting and sustaining the incomes of vulnerable Micro and Small Enterprises by guaranteeing the offtake of their products.
“A total of 100,000 Micro and Small Enterprises are to benefit from the scheme.
“The Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari on June 24, 2020, as a N2.3 trillion stimulus plan to mitigate the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Plan was developed by the Economic Sustainability Committee chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.”
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