The Federal Government announced on Thursday that the disbursement of N150bn in loans to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and manufacturers will commence by the end of July.
The FG added that 60 per cent of the proposed one million beneficiaries of the Presidential Conditional Grant have already received a financial grant of N50,000 each, with no repayment obligations, across the 774 local government areas of the country.
The Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, shared this information in a post on her official X handle on Thursday.
In December 2023, the Federal Government introduced the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme as part of the Presidential Palliatives Programme, designed to support businesses during the economic downturn caused by government policies.
The fund allocates N75bn to MSMEs and another N75bn to the manufacturing sector.
The minister said that the government is aware of the current business climate and established the fund to help Nigerian businesses navigate these challenging economic conditions.
She said, “To all applicants of the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme who are yet to be paid, thank you for your continued patience. The disbursement process is still ongoing, and we have allocated about 60 per cent of the 1 million grants.
“You can track the number of beneficiaries per LGA paid so far on grant.fedgrantandloan.gov.ng/learn-more/dis.
“We are also at the final stages of vetting for the MSME and Manufacturing loans. Applications remain open, and disbursement will begin by July ending.”
She expressed gratitude to applicants of the Conditional Grant Scheme who are yet to be paid for their continued patience, stressing that her team has worked tirelessly to ensure the process is fair and accurate.
Addressing complaints from aggrieved applicants, she noted that the selection was not based on who applied first but on a random computer-generated selection.
She said that the ministry had hoped to complete all 1 million disbursements by now; however, the process has been delayed due to issues such as incorrect or missing data, duplicate applications, and spurious entries.
