According to the Bank of Industry (BOI), 200 Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) in Bauchi State have benefited from the Payroll Support under Survival Funds programme of the Federal Government.
The State Manager of BOI in Bauchi, Mr. Isah Mohammed Nadada made this known on Tuesday during the presentation of certificates to business owners who have been paid between N30,000 and N50,000 for three months.
According to the Bank, many MSMEs were crippled during the period of Covid-19 lockdown while business owners could not pay their employees. “The programme has paid 200 businesses with their staff to cushion the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic. It is for them to keep producing while the government takes the responsibility of payroll for three months,” Nadada said.
Also, a representative of the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP), Lagos, Nwosu Emeka Survival fund has paid over 300,000 beneficiaries nationwide and has helped about 51,000 business owners to pay their employees for the past three months.
“Part of our challenges is that some of the applicants complained of inability to receive their money after application. But we discovered that some of them submitted wrong account numbers or have issues with their Bank Verification Number(BVN),” Emeka explained.
A beneficiary and owner of AH Ajebo Building Construction thanked the government for the palliative measure it introduced to keep their businesses alive amid the covid-19 period.
Certificates were issued to enterprises like AM Igba Agro Enterprise, A3 Clothing/School Kits and General Merchandise, Al Uam Motorcycle Spare Parts, Arewa Golden Furniture investment among others.