Abuja, May 6, 2024 -About 200 small business have started receiving N50,000 grants promised by the Federal Government.
The Federal Government offered the grants as part of its palliatives to cushion the effects of removal of petrol subsidy.
Doris Uzoka- Anite, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, announced this at the weekend, adding that the remaining 800,000 would get theirs before the close of the programme on May 31.
She said about one million applicants had been slated to receive the grants out of the 3.6 million applications that qualified.
“The application portal was closed at midnight on April 17. The portal had to be closed due to an overwhelming number of applications totalling over 3.6 million.
“The Bank of Industry is ensuring transparency and accountability in the N50 billion disbursement using NIN, BVN and bank account details for verification to prevent duplication.
“They will also perform physical enumeration to re-verify information, including taking photographs of beneficiaries.
“The time frame for disbursement is the end of May 2024. The requirement for determining the beneficiaries is not based on particular criteria. The goal is to reach 1,290 beneficiaries per local government area across the country totalling one million people.”
“We acknowledge that some of the beneficiaries are getting alert, while others are not.
“The disbursement is subject to verification of NIN which became mandatory after the initial application phase which required only BVN.
“The selection is random and without human intervention from those who have passed their NIN and BVN verification.
“For an applicant to know if they are verified, they will get to know through publications. The verification is a digital process.
“Individuals will not need to be contacted after verification, but the disbursement will happen automatically,” she said.
