The Federal Government says it has so far disbursed the sum of N56.8 billion to 835,161 beneficiaries under the MSME Survival Fund scheme.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Evelyn Ngige, disclosed this at the 13th meeting of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment in Ado-Ekiti.
Giving a breakdown of disbursements, she stated that on the N75 billion MSME Survival Fund, the programme has disbursed N8.80 billion to 293,336 beneficiaries under the Artisan Support and Transport Scheme, N43.92 billion to 459,334 beneficiaries under the Payroll Support Scheme and N4.12 billion to 82,491 beneficiaries under the MSME Grant Scheme, bringing the total amount disbursed to N56.84 billion to 835,161 beneficiaries.
The permanent secretary also revealed that the Ministry had commenced activation of six private sector-led Special Economic Zones (SEZ) of Lekki, Enyimba, Funtua, lbom, Kano and Benue, through partnership with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority to ensure the Authority delivers the establishment of three SEZs in 2022.
According to her, in line with the Presidential directive for the establishment of at least one Agro-Processing Zone in each of the 109 Senatorial Zones, the Ministry has commenced the process of collecting agro-commodities data in 16 states.
She listed the 16 states that will benefit in the first phase of the programme include Ebonyi, Plateau, Edo, Jigawa Ondo, Gombe, Abia, Benue, Osun, Sokoto, Zamfara, Enugu, Ekiti, Bauchi, Kebbi and Bayelsa.
Ngige also revealed that the Ministry is ensuring credit access to 10 million MSMEs at a single-digit rate. In the implementation of this strategic pillar of the Federal Government to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country, the Ministry, through the Bank of Industry (BOI), has disbursed N15 billion to 863 MSME businesses across several sectors.
