Edo State Government has disbursed the sum of N645 million grant to 2,219 operators of the Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) across the three senatorial districts of the state in the last two years.
Segun Majekodunmi, Result Area 3 Lead, NG-Cares Project and Director of Entrepreneurship Development at Edo State Skills Development Agency (Edojobs) stated this at the grand finale of the second phase of the disbursement of the grant to beneficiaries in the state.
BusinessDay reports that the grant was presented to beneficiaries in Auchi, Edo North, Ekpoma in Edo Central and Benin in Edo south senatorial districts respectively.
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Majekodunmi said the grant which is a livelihood support for businesses in the state was part of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme funded by the World Bank, Federal Government of Nigeria and the Edo State Government.
He said in the first phase the sum of N235 million was disbursed to 506 beneficiaries across the 18 local government areas in the state while in this second phase the sum of N410million was disbursed to 1,713 across the state.
He said the 1,713 beneficiaries were out of the total number of 12,000 persons that applied for the programme in 2023.
He explained that at the second phase the sum of N292.1million was disbursed to 919 beneficiaries in Edo south, N66,700million to 474 beneficiaries in Edo north and 51.200million to 333 beneficiaries in Edo central senatorial districts,
