By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief)@CeleOkaf11
At least three thousand individuals with small and medium scale businesses in Kebbi State would receive Federal Government’s post-COVID-19 grant in order to enhance their business activities.
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, stated this on Monday in Birnin-Kebbi at the opening ceremony for distribution of two billion naira (N2b) loan facilities to five hundred and forty-nine (549) entrepreneurs under the Federal Government Agric-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Dr. Umar Jubrilu Gwandu, made this known in a statement issued to newsmen on Monday, December 21, 2020.
Malami said that the Federal Government has compassionately noted that many small and medium scale business individuals got diminishing returns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, hence the need to intervene with grants and soft loans to boost their businesses and enhance their productivity.
He said each of the entrepreneurs was to receive an amount ranging between one million to five million commencing from Monday the 21st day of December 2020.
The Minister said, to increase food production and job creation in Kebbi State, already Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiatives (KDI), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has facilitated ways for more than 2,000 cassava farmers and 1,900 rice farmers access soft loans under the Anchor Brower Programme of the Federal Government.
According to the Minister, two hundred wheelchairs will be distributed to disables in Birnin-Kebbi during the first week of January 2020.
He expressed appreciation that some social development projects already executed including the Widows and Vulnerable Empowerment Scheme with the free distribution of goats to enhance the business of rearing animals to support rural women have started yielding positive results.
Malami said as a measure to bring an end to the acute shortage of water as well as improve healthcare and hygiene hundreds of boreholes were dug for rural communities through the Khadimiyya for Justice and Development Initiatives. NNL.
