The Federal Government announced that it has commenced the payment of N30,000 one-time grants to 333,000 artisans nationwide as part of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP). This was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, who also said only verified benefactors of the Artisan Support Scheme are viable to access the grant. The Artisan Support Scheme is meant to benefit 9,000 Nigerians per State and the FCT.
Mr. Akande said, “The first stream of payments began on Tuesday and beneficiaries are collated from the FCT, Lagos, Ondo, Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Abia, Rivers, Plateau and Delta States.”
“The MSMEs Survival Fund is a component of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) established by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2020. The Survival Fund is generally designed to, among other things, support vulnerable MSMEs in meeting up with their different obligations and safeguard jobs in the sector”.
States under the 2nd Stream are Edo, Ogun, Ekiti, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Enugu, Ebonyi, Adamawa, Taraba, and Bayelsa State. Enumerators are currently compiling the list of artisans through their association leaders.
The Presidency also revealed that the formalization support under MSMEs Survival Fund would also begin today, which will result in free business names registration for 250,000 MSMEs by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
According to the commission, 6,606 business names in each of the 34 states will eligible for free registration. In Lagos, there would be 9,084 free registrations while Abuja and Kano State would be allocated 7,906 and 8,406 respectively.
