The federal government says it has disbursed a total of N27.2 billion of the N50 billion incentives set aside for nano firms under the trade grant initiative between April and June 2024.
This is based on information retrieved as of June 30, 2024, from the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS) webpage.
Throughout the programme, 545,830 people have benefited from it, according to statistics that counts the number of recipients who have received the N50,000 award for their nano companies across the 774 local government areas (LGAs).
This shows that N27.2 billion has been given to these people by the federal government via the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment.
Over 400,000 people have not yet been reached by the programme, which launched in April with the goal of reaching 1 million beneficiaries across all LGAs.
Nearly 4 million Nigerians were registered
As of June, around 4 million Nigerians had applied for the N50,000 palliative award, according to Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment. She did, however, clarify that the programme will only house one million beneficiaries.
She also affirmed that the fund had been awarded to roughly 60% of the one million qualified applicants. The Minister stated that the fund is still in operation and that rather than allocating funds based on first-come, first-served priority, a computer-generated random approach is used.
“We have distributed roughly 60% of the one million grants, and the payout process is still ongoing. On grant.fedgrantandloan.gov.ng/learn-more/dis, you may monitor the number of beneficiaries each LGA that has received funding thus far.”
“It’s worth noting that about 4 million Nigerians applied for the $50,000 palliative grant, but only 1 million may be accommodated. This implies that not every application will be awarded a grant.”
“The selection is made randomly by a computer programme rather than according to who applied first; each applicant has an equal chance. “At this point, there are no immediate plans, but Mr. President may introduce additional social intervention programmes in the future,” she stated.
Businesses that the Scheme is aimed at
The following nano businesses are among those the plan targets:
Traders include marketmen and women in open marketplaces, corner store owners, small traders, and lone retail marketers.
Catering Services: Food and vegetable merchants.
ICT: Call centre agents, battery chargers, business centre operators, and recharge card suppliers.
Transport: Pushers of wheelbarrows and autonomous dispatch riders.
Creatives: Dry cleaners, makeup artists, and fashion designers.
Artisans: Shoemakers, painters, repairers, and vulcanizers.
Things to note
One of the Presidential Palliatives Program’s initiatives, the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS), also called the Trade Grant Scheme, is designed to assist small firms after subsidies are removed.
Although the programme was first unveiled in December 2023, payments to beneficiaries’ accounts were not made until April 2024 by the federal government.
Seventy percent of the subsidies will go to women and young people, ten percent will go to people with disabilities, five percent will go to older persons, and fifteen percent will go to other groups.
Over 500,000 people have benefited from the programme thus far, while over 400,000 applications are still awaiting their awards.
