MSME: We’ve Paid 101,567 Survival Fund Beneficiaries – Federal Govt

The Nigerian government has said that it has began the payment of funds to successful beneficiaries of MSME Survival Fund, further revealed that 101,567 verified employees drawn from 16,250 businesses were paid in the first batch.

The Federal Government has so far paid 101,567 verified employees drawn from 16,250 businesses under its payroll support scheme for small businesses.

The scheme, which is the MSME Survival Fund component of the Economic Sustainability Plan, was designed to support small businesses to cushion the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday titled, ‘ESP in progress: FG commences payment of payroll support to beneficiaries’.

“So far, 101,567 verified employees drawn from 16,250 businesses have received their first monthly payment from the Survival Fund’s Payroll Support Scheme, which is designed to support vulnerable MSMEs by paying the salaries of their staff for a period of three months.

“Verification is still ongoing as the payroll support scheme targets supporting 500,000 beneficiaries with payment of up to N50,000 per employee during the duration of three months, starting from October,” the statement read.

The scheme commenced on September 21 for different categories of MSMEs – education, hospitality and other sectors (general); and ended on October 15.

The requirements needed for the application, according to the statement, include the registration of the employees’ company under the Corporate Affairs Commission; beneficiary must have a BVN; the business have a staff strength of at least three persons with proof of monthly salary payment and must be owned by a Nigerian in Nigeria.

“The commencement of payment for beneficiaries of the Survival Fund payroll support follows that of the ongoing N30,000 one-time grant payment to artisans nationwide.

“In the first stream of payments which started at the end of October, beneficiaries are being drawn from the FCT, Lagos, Ondo, Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Abia, Plateau and Delta States. They form the first batch of applications for the scheme submitted between October 1 and October 10,” the statement added.