The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb Mariam Yalwaji Katagum, has revealed that so far, N56.84 billion has been disbursed to over 1 million beneficiaries under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Survival Fund Scheme.
The minister made the disclosure while flagging off the Guaranteed Off-Take Scheme, which is the last component of the scheme started last year to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses in Nigeria.
On the Guaranteed Off-Take Scheme, the Minister said out of the projected 100,000 beneficiaries, 50,032 MSMEs have been selected from 65,976 applications received.
“It is important to note that the purpose of GOS is to stimulate direct local production by enabling 100,000 MSMEs in the production sector with funds to produce ‘post COVID lockdown’ off-take products. These products include: Face Masks; Hand sanitizers; Liquid Soap; Disinfectants and Processed Foods such as garri, palm oil, groundnut oil, and spices,” she said.
She said at the end of the off-take process, items procured will be handed over to state governments for onward distribution to schools, hospitals, NGOs, as well as other public and private institutions.
