The Federal Government of Nigeria received 38,000 applications in less than 24 hours for the Survival Fund – Payroll Support scheme which opened for registration at 10:00pm on 21 September.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Mariam Katagum during her opening remarks at a Business Advocacy Roundtable webinar by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) on Tuesday.
According to the Minister Kano State has the highest number of applicants.
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The registration process which was scheduled in phases by FG is currently open for the education sector (private schools).
The registration for other sectors will start as follows
- 12:00am Friday 25 September 2020 – registration for hospitality businesses
- 12:00am Monday 28 September 2020 – general registration for all sectors.
The Survival Fund which the Minister said will serve 1.7 beneficiaries, is part of the recommendations issued by the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC) for supporting small businesses in the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) to cushion the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
About FG Survival fund
The survival fund program intends to help Micro Small and Medium Enterprises to cushion the impact of Covid-19 on businesses. Designated vulnerable sectors include: hotels, creative industries, road transport, tourism, private educational institutions among others.
The projects under the Survival Fund according to the information on its website are;
Payroll support – will support 500,000 MSMEs in meeting payroll obligations of between N30,000 to N50,000 per employee over a three month period.
Formalization support – will provide free CAC business name registration for 250,000 new business.
General grant – will support the survival of 100,000 most affected businesses by the Covid-19 pandemic with N50,000 each.
Artisan/Transport support – will provide artisans and transport business operators with a N30,000 operations grant to reduce the effects of income loss.
Guaranteed off-take scheme – will make bulk purchase of products from 100,000 MSMEs to protect jobs and livelihoods
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
