Battery chargers, Wheel barrow pushers, food vendors are targeted beneficiaries
Women, youths to make 70% of beneficiaries
By Aliyu Yakubu
The Federal Government of Nigeria recently announced the kickoff of the Presidential Conditional Loan and Grant Scheme to Businesses in Nigeria, including Nano businesses as part of the Presidential Palliative Program to reduce the additional burden placed on them by the decision to remove subsidy on fuel.
The programme, designed to reach one million nano businesses and other Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across all the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country, has provisions for each beneficiary to be granted the sum N50,000.00.
To ensure that this is effected, the Federal Government will collaborate with the State Governments, Ministers, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Senators, and House of Representative Members, who will use the Federal Government approved selection criteria to shortlist the beneficiaries from their constituents.
Phone chargers are to benefit from the scheme too
The target beneficiaries are 70% women and youth, 10% people with disabilities, and 5% senior citizens, while the remaining 15% is distributed to other demographics
A breakdown of the target sectors for this programme include Traders (single retail marketers, corner shop owners, petty traders, market men and women in open markets), Food Services (food and vegetable Vendors), ICT (Business centre operators, battery chargers, recharge card vendors, call centre agents), Transportation (Wheelbarrow pushers, independent dispatch riders), Creatives (Makeup artists, fashion designers, dry cleaners) and Artisans (vulcanizers, shoemakers, painters, and repairers)