…Says 344km roads under construction to link 500 markets
Ministers and heads of agencies Monday reported progress in the implementation of the Economic Sustainability Plan of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided over a meeting of the Economic Sustainability Committee at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Highlights of the reports presented to the committee include the release of N37 billion for the Survival Fund covering such schemes like N50,000 Payroll Support for three months to over 300,000 beneficiaries, one-time grants of N30,000 to about 100,000 artisans, and 100,000 business name registrations paid for by the federal government.
While Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment Ambassador Mariam Katagum reported the progress of the Survival Fund to the Committee, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele briefed on the bank’s intervention including disbursement of over N19 billion for household/MSMEs grants to 426,000 beneficiaries across the country, with plans to do over N100 billion more in that category named Targeted Credit Facility.
The CBN Governor also disclosed that under the collateral-free Agric-Business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme, there are ongoing grants of concessionary loans from between N150,000 to N2.5 million, stressing that over N106 billion has been disbursed so far to over 27,000 beneficiaries.
In the agriculture sector, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, said under the ESP, a total of 5.4 million farmers have now been enumerated to get the support under the plan.
He said for the enumeration, which involved geospatial tagging, almost 73,000 N-Power volunteers were trained and 30,000 of them deployed to 774 local governments.
He said 2.9 million of the farmers have had their BVN enrollment validated for the purposes of funding through the CBN.
He said clearing of 3,200 hectares of land for farming is ongoing in several states including Edo, Plateau, Ekiti, Cross River, Ogun, Kaduna, Kwara, and Osun while rural road constructions have reached about 28% completion covering 344km linking about 500 markets across the country.
Also speaking, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, said broadband penetration in the country has moved from 38% last year to 45% now, while over 170 institutions have been registered to conduct the NIN.
He said telcos would be licensed for the enrollment, while over 1060 registration centres have been activated across the country for the NIN.
He said a total of 56.18 million NINs have been collected by mobile network operators so far.
In his presentation, Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, said federal government has made efforts to prevent the retrenchment of staff in the private sector because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also speaking, Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola said the ministry’s coordinated government Public Works Programme while Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Mr Festus Keyamo, reported on the progress of the Special Public Works that hires 774,000 workers across all local governments in the country.
Other presentations were made on the Rapid Response Register launched recently by the Vice President and the Social Housing Scheme of the ESP.
