By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Some of the 333,000 artisans verified by the federal government have started to receive the N30,000 one-time grant aimed to help them grow their businesses.
They are being paid through the Artisan Support Scheme of the federal government, which is a track under the MSMEs Survival Fund of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP).
A statement issued by Mr Laolu Akande, the spokesman to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo noted that in the first stream of payments, beneficiaries were drawn from Abuja, Lagos, Ondo, Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Abia, Rivers, Plateau and Delta States. They form the first batch of applications for the scheme submitted between October 1 and October 10.
The registration of applicants for stream two began on October 19, 2020, in Edo, Ogun, Ekiti, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Enugu, Ebonyi, Adamawa, Taraba and Bayelsa States and payment should be made to successful artisans very soon.
The MSMEs Survival Fund scheme is a component of NESP developed by an Economic Sustainability Committee established by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2020 and headed by Mr Osinbajo.
Under the ESP, the survival fund is generally designed to among other things, support vulnerable MSMEs in meeting their different obligations and safeguard jobs in the sector.
Adedapo Adesanya