Abia State Government says it has made adequate arrangements to ensure that no single potential beneficiary of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survival Fund from the State is denied the opportunity.
About 9,009 artisans in Abia will receive N30, 000 each from the scheme.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, made the promise at a town hall meeting with business membership organizations (BMOs) and trade association leaders on the Artisan and Transport Support component of the Survival Fund, held Saturday in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State.
Represented at the forum, by Chinenye Nwaogu, State’s focal person on special investments, Ikpeazu argued that Aba has the largest concentration of MSMEs in the South-East zone of Nigeria and so deserves priority attention.
“Today, Aba is unarguably the leading light in small scale manufacturing in Nigerian and we want to just put that on record, so that in subsequent planning and programmes of the federal government, Aba will be given priority attention.
“There is so much required to build SMEs in this place. When the Vice President visited us, we told him that Aba, should not be left for the State Government alone to develop, because if we build Aba and build the capacity of businesses, we will not have any business going to China to import things.
“I will like to clarify that in the other components, Abia received a higher number of slots, like in the payroll support, business registration and others, but for this artisan and transport support scheme which was distributed equally, among all the States, we had expected to also receive higher than some States.
“States like Lagos, Kano, should also receive higher than other States because they have a larger concentration of artisans and transporters in the country.
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Ikpeazu, thanked the Federal Government for introducing the fund for artisans and transporters and hoped that this and other economic policies, geared towards improving the livelihood of Nigerians, would be implemented with the same zest and vigor, so that the people will have a breath of fresh air, stressing that there is a lot of economic pressure on Nigerians currently.
“But in all, we thank the Federal Government and Mr. President, because this programme is properly structured, such that the target beneficiaries will receive the funds directly.
“There is no other layer of warehousing funds, so they will get the money directly. And going through the associations means that you will deal with the real people because the leadership of those associations know their members and will be able to identify them and this will also help in formalizing the informal sector”.
He observed further that some of these artisanal groups are disorganized and operate in an informal way, noting that the Artisans and Transport Support Scheme, would provide them the opportunity to formalize their businesses, through registration of their business names and opening bank accounts.
Ubadibo Okonkwo, member of Steering Committee, MSME Survival Fund, who represented Mariam Katagum, minister of State, Ministry of Industry, explained that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) to help cushion the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He stated that at the core of NESP are two MSME Support Schemes, namely-the MSME Survival Fund and he Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus Scheme, which is designed to boost the Nigerian economy, by saving jobs and creating new job opportunities.
