By Adedapo Adesanya
A total of 319,755 Nigerians will benefit from the Economic Sustainability Plan’s Survival Fund Payroll Support (ESP), says the federal government.
This was made known by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, in Abuja.
It was announced that the one-off Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) grant of N50,000 will commence within the week in furtherance of the federal government’s support for small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic under its ESP.
“This is expected to increase the number of beneficiaries under the Payroll Support track, which has so far benefitted a total of 319,755 Nigerians, while 265,425 Nigerians are 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.
“The payroll support track aims to support 500,000 beneficiaries with payment of up to N50, 000 per employee for a period of three months,” he said.
The MSMEs Survival Fund, a component under the ESP, is designed to support vulnerable business owners in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard jobs in the sector.
The scheme is estimated to save not less than 1.3 million jobs across the country and specifically impact over 35,000 individuals per state. Applications for the General MSMEs Grant and the Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus Scheme opened on February 9 and closed in March.
The general MSMEs grant is a one-off grant of N50,000 that will be given to each qualified MSME as a direct cash injection into their enterprise. The total number of beneficiaries in this track is 100,000 spread across the states.
More so, under the Artisan Support scheme, a total of 333,000 Artisans and Transport business operators nationwide would get one-time operations grant of N30,000 per beneficiary to reduce the effects of income loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the same vein, 172,129 businesses have so far benefitted under the ESP Survival Fund formalisation support track, which is aimed at registering 250,000 new businesses for free with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The formalisation support scheme commenced on October 26, 2020, with the registration by aggregators – CAC registration agents across the 36 states and the FCT.
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 off-take of their products. A total of 100,000 MSMEs are to benefit from the scheme.
The ESP was approved by President Buhari on June 24, 2020, as 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.
Dipo Olowookere