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Nigeria commences payment of support fund to small firms

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By Tanko Mohamamed 

As the implementation of its Economic Sustainability Plan, ESP, continues, and in furtherance of its commitment to support small businesses to cushion the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria has commenced payment to beneficiaries of the payroll support scheme track under the MSME Survival Fund. 

The MSME Survival Fund, a component under the ESP, is generally designed to, among other things, support vulnerable MSMEs in meeting their different obligations and safeguard jobs in the sector. 

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 3 months, starting from October. 

It would be recalled that registration for the Payroll Support had commenced on Monday, 21st September, for different categories of MSMEs – education, hospitality and other sectors (general); and ended on the 15th of October. 

The requirements needed for the application include: the employees’ company must be registered in Nigeria under the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC; must have a BVN; the business have a staff strength of at least 3 persons with proof of monthly salary payment and must be owned by a Nigerian in Nigeria. 

All successful applicants had received SMS and email verification with a list of requirements for the second stage of application, while applicants/businesses were required to upload their details and documents supporting their applications for verification. 

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. The payments are being made to sets of verified beneficiaries of the Artisan Support Scheme, a track under the MSMEs Survival Fund. The Artisans’ scheme is paying one-time grants of N30,000 to a total of 333,000 beneficiaries across the country. 

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 Survival Fund grant has been designed to cushion the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic on the most vulnerable MSMEs across Nigeria, targeting 1.7 million individuals and entities across Nigeria. 

The MSME Survival Fund is a conditional grant to support vulnerable micro and small enterprises in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard Jobs in the MSMEs sector. The scheme is estimated to save not less than 1.3million jobs across the country and specifically impact on over 35,000 individuals per state. 

The scheme made provision for a 45% female business participation and 5% participation of persons with special needs. 

The MSMEs Survival Fund scheme is a component of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan, NESP, which was developed by an Economic Sustainability Committee established by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2020. The President asked his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to head the committee which produced the plan and is overseeing its implementation.

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Nigeria kicks-off MSME support programme

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By Moses Uwagbale

The Steering committee of the Survival Fund and Guarantee Off-take has inaugurated the Artisan and Transport sector Track of the Survival Fund Scheme,

The scheme will see 333,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country being given N30,000 support.

Mrs Ibukun Awosika, a member of the Steering Committee, MSME Sustainability Group, said in Lagos that the sustainability plan was introduced by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 1.

Awosika, also Chairperson, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria, said that the operation grant was being given to reduce the effect of income loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant lockdown.

“The scheme aims to provide 9,009 beneficiaries in each of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT by leveraging duly registered and recognised associations.

“This is done with the objective of having their members benefit directly from the scheme, so that they can attest to its transparency and effectiveness.

“We will depend very much on both individual participation and the honesty of the associations in ensuring that those who are qualified are the ones supported, who benefit,” she said.

Awosika said that responsible evaluations would be done before the money is disbursed to those approved for it.

“We encourage you to open an account number so that the money would be paid directly into the beneficiary’s account as we will not be handing out cash,” she said.

Awosika said that certain key programmes such as Guarantee Off Take program and the Payroll program would greatly benefit and add value to the artisans and transport operators, beneficiaries of the scheme.

“Guarantee Off take program is directed at benefiting certain people in the productive sector of the country.

“Certain categories of products will be ordered by the government from Nigerian producers in those sectors with the aim of also benefiting those states within which they function.

“You will hear more about it as we kick off each segment of the program,” she said.

Awosika said that the payroll support which kicked off on Sept. 21 involved company owners who had been challenged by COVID in their ability to pay salaries to their workers.

“Therefore, the government has instituted a programme that allows company owners to apply for salary support of a maximum of N50,000 for a maximum of 10 members of staff for a period of three months.

“The qualification criteria has been made simple in order to ensure that many companies can benefit from it within the budget that the government is working with.

“We already have hundreds of thousands of applications from Nigeria,” she said.

Mr Kayode Pitan, Managing Director, Bank Of Industry and a member of the steering committee, said the government wanted to ensure that women got their fair share from the scheme.

“Forty-five percent of those who are going to benefit from the scheme in each state will be women and there is also 5 percent reserved for those with special needs.

“The amount is N30,000 per individual, which will be given to the beneficiaries through the associations,” he said.

Pitan said that all associations must be duly registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as a requirement to be able to obtain the funds for their members.

“Each beneficiary also has to have a BVN number, but if you do not have one, you can still benefit through the leadership of the association registered with the CAC,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Yinka Fisher, Lagos State Coordinator, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) lauded the initiative as a way of ameliorating losses made by companies during the COVID period lockdown.

“The money will have a multiplier effect for those who are in this sector and improve the productivity of workers and the owners of the business,” Fisher said.