Commerce chamber demands speedy release of N125bn grants

The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday, urged the Federal Government to speed-up the implementation of the N125bn grants meant for energising Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Nigeria.

The chamber said many businesses in this category were currently shutting down.

President Bola Tinubu had announced plans to provide grants for SMEs during a nationwide broadcast on Monday.

He said the grants would help to address the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy on businesses.

Under the package, the Federal Government would spend N50bn on conditional grant to one million nano businesses between now and March 2024.

Tinubu explained that the target of his administration was to give N50,000 each to 1,300 nano business owners in each of the 774 Local Governments across the country.

Nigeria’s president had said, “In like manner, we will fund 100,000 MSMEs and start-ups with N75bn. Under this scheme, each enterprise promoter will be able to get between N500,000 to N1m at nine per cent interest per annum and a repayment period of 36 months.”

Reacting to this on Thursday in Abuja, the ACCI President, Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, called for the speedy release of the palliatives and collaboration with the Corporate Affairs Commission for the effective implementation of the grants.

While commending Tinubu for his empathy and his determination to turn around the economy, Abubakar said, “There is the need for government to speed up the implementation of various palliative packages to boost the economic activities of businesses.