FG Begins Implementation of N75bn Palliatives for MSMEs

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Mariam
Katagum, Thursday flagged off the National MSME Survival Fund and the
Guaranteed Off-take Scheme (GOS), both targeted towards assisting
Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to overcome the challenges
posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said the interventions which will gulp a total of N75 billion were
core part of the N2.3 trillion Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan
(NESP) currently being implemented by the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led administration to help cushion the impact of the pandemic
with a view to boosting the economy by saving existing jobs and
creating new job opportunities.

Speaking at a press briefing to announce the commencement of the
schemes, the minister said while the MSME survival fund will gulp N60
billion, the GOS will cost N15 billion adding that the schemes will be
implemented over an initial period of three months in order to provide
immediate relief from the economic impact of COVID-19.

The interventions are essentially palliatives in the form of grants to
help navigate through the turbulent times and may not require payback
mechanisms to the government.

Katagum however noted that while the survival fund scheme is expected
to commence immediately, the GOS will follow as soon as proper
modalities are put in place to meet current realities.

She said the interventions are expected to impact about 1.7 million
entities and individual beneficiaries across the country.

She said going by recent statistics released by Small and Medium
Enterprises Development of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), indicating that over 95 per cent of the 41 million
MSMEs in the country are micro businesses, the government cannot
afford to neglect the huge segment of economic landscape which
contributes high percentage to employment and GDP.

This is as the Project Coordinator and Special Adviser to the
President on MSMEs (Office of the Vice President), Mr. Tola Johnson
said among other things that the survival fund scheme will start with
the payroll support initiative targeted at about 100 businesses and
500,000 individuals.

He said no fewer than 100,000 MSMEs affected by the pandemic will get
the sum of N50, 000 each as grant while 250,000 businesses will also
benefit from free registration by the Corporate Affairs Commission
(CAC).

Lamenting that several MSMEs are currently not registered, he said
though the registration is free for businesses, the government will
pay the commission half the actual price.

He also said the transport and assistance support component of the
scheme will provide a one-off payment of N30,000 grant to about
333,000 beneficiaries.

Katagum however, stated that the survival fund which targets MSMEs and
self-employed individuals, is a conditional grant to support
vulnerable MSMEs in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard
jobs from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to salvage
about 1.3 million jobs nationwide while targeting an average of 35,000
individuals per state.

On the other hand, the GOS represents one of the federal government‘s
economic support measures to assist micro and small businesses which
are registered in the country to enable them minimise the effects of
the pandemic.

She added that the government will leverage on the databases of micro
and small enterprises in identifying those businesses that would
qualify under the programme adding that the scheme will save about
300,000 jobs and 100,000 MSMEs by guaranteeing off-take of priority
products.

She said:”It is to be noted that the two schemes are expected to be
implemented over an initial period of three months in order to provide
immediate relief from the economic impact of the pandemic.

“Provision has been made for 45 per cent female-owned businesses and
five per cent for those with special needs.

“As I said earlier, while we are commencing the implementation of the
Survival Fund immediately, the Guaranteed Off-take Scheme is still
being reviewed to meet current realities especially with regards to
product selection.”

She added that mechanisms were being put in place for effective and
efficient monitoring and evaluation of the implementation matrix.

She said:”As expressly directed by Mr. President, our selection
process is going to be very transparent and we will ensure very
efficient and judicious use of the funds and other resources allocated
to the schemes. Moving forward, we plan to give periodic updates to
members of the press and civil society organizations, as the programme
progresses.”

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo,
had in August inaugurated a 10-man Steering Committee, chaired by
Katagum to develop a workable template for the execution of the
programme.