More than 2,790 Akwa Ibom indigenes are to benefit from the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) of the Federal Government under job creation, wealth and poverty alleviation in the state.
Dr. Dikko Radda, the Director-General of SMEDAN, stated this at the flag-off ceremony of the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) for Micro Enterprises in Nigeria held in Uyo Monday.
Radda said that 90 beneficiaries were selected from the 31 local government areas of the state and each beneficiary would be given N50,000 to start business.
The director-general said the pilot phase of the project was being conducted in six states of Katsina, Gombe, Ebonyi, Oyo, Benue and Akwa Ibom.
He said that one state had been selected from the six geo-political zones of the country to improve the human, technological and financial capacity of operators of micro enterprises.
“The present initiative looks to promoting the activities of micro enterprises across the country in the areas of capacity building and delivery of post-intervention support services such as access to finance, markets, workspace and technology.
“Improving the internally generated revenue of the three tiers of government across the country thereby reducing over dependence on oil,” Radda said.
According to him, “the beneficiaries were carefully selected based on their ability to own registered business with progressive economic potentials and strong desire to grow the businesses.”
He said SMEDAN would provide the beneficiaries with adequate training to equip them on business management for effective running of the business enterprises.
He said, “In order to make sure that the objectives of the programme are achieved and the impact guaranteed, the programme had put in place a well structured business mentoring and monitoring mechanism.
“The mentoring procedure will be such that will provide assistance to participants on how to properly set up their books, how to attract and retain customers, source for raw materials ways to improve their products and services.”
The director-general urged the beneficiaries to make the best use of the grant to add value to themselves and improve the economy of the State.
In his remarks, Mr Idoreinyin Udo, the Commissioner for Economic Development, commended the Federal Government and SMEDAN for selecting Akwa Ibom in the pilot phase of the scheme.
Udo said that the state government has provided enabling environment with good infrastructure for investment to strive in the state.
He urged the beneficiaries to show good examples by making good use of the grant to attract more federal government opportunities to the state.
“This is a grant that you should make good use of it to improve your life.. You should please use this opportunity very very well,” Udo said.
