The Federal Government on Thursday said the disbursement of N150bn loans to micro, small and medium enterprises and manufacturers would commence by the end of July.
It also disclosed that 60 per cent of the proposed one million beneficiaries of the Presidential Conditional Grant had received a financial grant of N50,000 without repayment obligations in the 774 local government areas of the country.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, revealed the latest information in a post via her official X handle on Thursday.
In December 2023, the Federal Government unveiled the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme as part of the Presidential Palliatives Programme aimed at supporting businesses to navigate the economic crunch caused by government policies.
The fund dedicates N75bn to MSMEs and another N75bn to the manufacturing sector.
The minister noted the government is well aware of the current business climate and created the fund to help Nigerian businesses navigate the harsh 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 thanked applicants of the Conditional Grant Scheme who are yet to be paid for continued patience, stressing that her team have worked tirelessly to ensure this process is fair and accurate.
Reacting to complaints by aggrieved applicants, she explained that the selection was not based on who applied first but on random computer-generated selection.
She stated 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.
Last month, the government had disbursed a total sum of N20.11bn to 402,283 beneficiaries to their bank accounts via their Bank Verification Number.
The minister added, “It’s important to note that almost 4 million Nigerians applied for the Palliative grant of 50k, but only 1 million beneficiaries can be accommodated.
