The Presidency has said that Lagos, Kano and Abia States will get slightly higher numbers of beneficiaries in the Economic Sustainability Plan’s N75bn MSMEs Survival Fund.

Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, confirmed this in a statement yesterday.

Akande said Lagos, Kano and Abia had more MSMES activities in their states than the rest, stating that this explained the reason they got slightly higher numbers of beneficiaries.

He, however, added that all other states and the FCT would get an evenly distributed share of the fund.

The information was contained in an updated reports of the Federal Government on the implementation of the Survival Fund scheme, as the beneficiaries on the first set of States across the country emerge.

The report indicated that Abia, Lagos and Kano States were separated from the others in the distribution of slots for beneficiaries because of their special status in the MSMEs space, having a larger concentration of small businesses in the country.

The report allays any fears of marginalization of states in the distribution of slots for the five tracks of the Survival Fund.

It further disclosed that the steering committee led by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb. Mariam Katagum, was working to ensure smooth implementation of the programme across the states and FCT as focal persons are enlisted by the Project Delivery Office to drive the operationalization of the schemes in communities within the states.

A detailed distribution procedure for the five tracks under the Survival Fund is as follows:

Payroll Support – Lagos gets 25, 000 beneficiaries; Kano, 17,000; Abia, 16, 000; other states 13, 000 each.

General MSME Grants – Lagos, 3, 880; Kano, 3,280; Abia, 3,080; other states , 2,640 each.

Free CAC registration – Lagos, 9,084; Kano, 8, 406; Abia, 7, 906; other states 6,606 each.

Artisan and Transport Grants – 36 States and FCT, 9,009

Guaranteed Offtake Stimulus Scheme (MSMEs) – Lagos, 3,880; Kano, 3,280; Abia, 3080 and other states 12,640 each.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.