Osinbajo: Over 1m Nigerians Benefit from FG’s Survival Fund Scheme

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Vice President Yemi Osibajo, Sunday said over one million Nigerians had so far benefitted from the Survival Fund scheme under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).

He gave the breakdown of the beneficiaries to include 500,000 Nigerian beneficiaries from the MSMEs Payroll support track, 44,500 beneficiaries under the one-off General MSME Grant, and another 265,425 under the artisan support track.

The payment to new beneficiaries of the Payroll Support track and the one-time General MSME Grant had commenced at the end of April.

ESP was approved by President Buhari on June 24, 2020, as a N2.3 trillion stimulus plan to tackle the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nigerians and it was developed by the Economic Sustainability Committee chaired by Osinbajo who the President also asked to lead its implementation.

The Vice President, in a release by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, said ”Under the scheme, beneficiaries receive payment of the N30,000 or N50,000 grant per month for a period of three months. Similarly, for
The total number of beneficiaries of the General MSME Grant will increase in the coming weeks as the Steering Committee has approved payment to an additional 40,114 successful new beneficiaries. In the same vein, 202,494 businesses have so far benefitted under the ESP Survival Fund formalization support track, which is aimed at registering 250,000 new businesses for free with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Osinbajo, said the National Social Housing Programme (NSHP) under the ESP has received further boost with the finalization of the agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on the N200 billion facility, the drawdown, with a guarantee from the Ministry of Finance is now commencing to fund the housing project.

The fund, which would be released in tranches, is expected to cover the NSHP project execution cost of the houses that would be constructed under the social housing project.