FG doles out N150,000 grant for small businesses in Jigawa

The Federal Government, on Tuesday, offered N150,000 grants to outstanding Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in Jigawa.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima announced the offer while launching the 4th edition of the Expanded National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Clinic, in Dutse, Jigawa.

The expanded National MSME Clinics is one of the federal government’s strategies for ease of doing business in Nigeria.

This will be achieved through a series of business forums organised nationwide to provide on-the-spot solutions to challenges confronting MSMEs.

The first, second, and third editions were launched earlier this year in Benue, Ogun, and Ekiti States.

Shettima, who reiterated the federal government’s support to MSMEs, noted that the N150,000 grant “is an outright grant that does not require beneficiaries to repay.”

He said, “I am pleased to announce that His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has mandated that a grant of N150,000 each be awarded to outstanding exhibiting MSMEs at today’s event.

“Rest assured that this is an outright grant, and the beneficiaries will not need to repay it.”

Shettima said that as the foundation of the nation’s economy, the MSMEs sub-sector had remained a top priority of the Tinubu administration.

He noted that the MSMEs not only represent 96 per cent of all businesses in Nigeria but contributed more than 45 per cent to its Gross Domestic Product.

Shettima added that MSMEs provided a crucial lifeline to 80 per cent of the nation’s workforce.

“We recognise your essence, and that’s why we are establishing MSME clinics across the nation.

“These clinics will act as incubators for small businesses and offer alternative financing. They will also ensure that you have the support and resources you need to compete and thrive,” he noted.

He observed that the prosperity of small businesses was the prosperity of Nigeria and their downturn was the downturn of Nigeria.

Shettima urged the business owners not to harbour any fear, assuring that the Tinubu administration would not rest until each of them “is in a vantage position to access the support and capital made available for them.”

Earlier, Governor Umar Namadi thanked the federal government for providing dividends of democracy to the people of the state through the MSME Clinics and related projects scattered across the area.

Namadi urged the existing and aspiring small business owners in the state to take advantage of services provided through the clinics.

He described the initiative as a rare opportunity for operators in the sector in Jigawa.

He said the state government was aligning with the federal government’s Renewed Hope Agenda through the ‘Greater Jigawa Initiative’ that provides social protection services and projects for the people.

The high point of the event at the Malam Aminu Kano Triangle was the inspection of exhibition pavilions by MSMEs in the state and the commissioning of the Jigawa Retail Empowerment Shops.

Earlier on arrival in Dutse, Shettima commissioned the 10-hectare, Solar-powered irrigation farm at the Sumore Farm in Madobi.

He also commissioned 1,435 J-AGRO Agricultural Extension Agents and the distribution of agricultural inputs under the NG-CARES Fadama Programme.

NAN reports that the inputs will benefit more than 26,000 individuals, out of which 30 per cent are women.

Similarly, Shettima inaugurated the Palliative Shop initiative at Yalwawa before proceeding to the Dutse Ultra Modern market where he commissioned a 120KVA Solar Plant.

Shettima said the solar unit would ensure that the entire market receives a minimum of eight hours of electricity per day during market hours.

NAN