The Abia State Coordinator of Social Investment Programmes, Mr. Chinenye Nwaogu said a little above 3000 Abians will be beneficiaries of another Guarantee Off-take Scheme which is a component of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survival Fund Payroll Support of the Federal Government.
Mr. Nwaogu, who doubles as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Job Creation and Youth Development, disclosed this in Umuahia during an interaction with some of beneficiaries of the MSME Survival Fund Payroll Support from Abia State.
He called on Abians to leverage on the opportunity to apply as the programme gives an equal opportunity for everyone who has the opportunity to benefit.
Mr Nwaogu further disclosed that the website for the Scheme has opened again for producers of all kinds of things from face masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectants to processed food items such as floor, garri as each SME will buy off food worth 150 thousand naira from each company.
According to him, the MSME Survival Fund Payroll Support is the first in the series of the schemes launched by the FG to support private companies and employers to be able to pay salaries to their staff.
Mr. Nwaogu who thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for being gracious and concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and Bank of Industry for providing the platform to implement this program.
He used the opportunity to reiterate that the money is meant for staff, telling proprietors and employers not to ask their staff to return part of the money as he would not tolerate such complaints from staffers.
According to the State SIP Coordinator, what the government envisaged was to continue to support these organizations to continue to run, and not to shut down because of COVID-19 pandemic.
Also speaking, a representative of the Programme for the federal government, Mr. Nwosu Nnaemeka revealed that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survival Fund Payroll Support has delivered payroll support to about 332, 205 from 51435 businesses across the 36 states of the country and the FCT.
