The National Information Technology Development Agency has kick-started a job and wealth creation programme where 130 farmers will each receive seed funding of N100,000. The programme will be supervised by the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.

According to a statement from the agency, the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) programme is in line with the government’s drive to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, and it will start with 130 farmers in Jigawa state.

In line with President @MBuhari's administration drive to lift 100m Nigerians out of poverty, @NITDANigeria, under the supervision of @FMoCDENigeria kick starts job and wealth creation programme by adopting 130 farmers on National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA). pic.twitter.com/Z4cWdrlQgs

— NITDA Nigeria (@NITDANigeria) June 29, 2020

The target of the programme is to adopt farmers in 774 LGAs across the country, open the platform to all agriculture ecosystem players with access to information, facilitate and improve productivity, reduce the cost of production, and facilitate access to local and international markets.

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With all of this in place, it is expected that the farmers will be able to build sustainable business models and digital business opportunities that will create not less than 6 million well-paying jobs in the next 10 years.

“NAVSA Platform is aimed at digitalising agriculture to drive Digital Economy, as part of President Buhari’s agenda to leverage on technology and innovation to revolutionise the agriculture value chain,” the statement read.

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Among other things, the farmers will be empowered with a digital platform, smart devices (tablets), connectivity for data and calls, Digital agripreneurship skills, and enrolment with telecom operators and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for identification.

All of these will be given to them at the end of the programme, which will last from July 1 to July 13, 2020.

The Federal Government of Nigeria is set to roll out palliatives to assist women-owned medium and small businesses (MSME’s) recover from the impact of the pandemic.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, in Abuja during the virtual E-launch of the National Survey on the impact of COVID-19 on women-owned businesses in Nigeria, monitored by NAN.

According to Tallen, the survey captured trends and patterns of the losses caused by the pandemic on women-owned businesses, and will now guide the government’s move to revive the affected businesses.

The impact of the pandemic on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has been quite massive, and resulted in unforeseen losses for business owners, she noted.

“We are all currently experiencing the effects, which have crippled the supply chain of businesses, with dire consequences on MSMEs, where the majority of women’s owned businesses are situated,” she said.

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She noted that the government had commenced the implementation of the findings of the survey, through the ongoing UN Women Assisted Palliative Distribution Project, targeted at poor women in 17 states of the federation.

In addition, the ministry of women affairs is also set to scale-up some projects for women in National Empowerment Fund (NaWEF), Government Empowerment and Enterprise Programme (GEEP) and the Business Development Fund for Women (BUDFOW).

Other areas include the ECOWAS and Access Bank 50 Million Women Speak Platform Project (50MWSPP), the Trust Fund agreement with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to implement the HP-LIFE entrepreneurship and job creation project.

Tallen said further that the ministry would also engage with the Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP), and conduct a mapping of state-level interventions on COVID-19.

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She also encouraged policymakers, development partners, and donor agencies to adopt the report’s recommendation for the immediate and post COVID-19 responses for women entrepreneurs.

 “The Ministry is engaging with States, relevant government institutions, NGOs, business groups, PWDs cooperative societies, elderly cooperative groups, and women-focused groups to achieve this. 

“I want to encourage our partners to not only stop here but let us together again look at the possibility of conducting a follow-up survey to track the progress of women entrepreneurs recovery. 

The survey was conducted by NACCIMA and SME.NG, and it contained recommendations in retooling policies to address both immediate and post COVID-19 strategies as well as the way forward.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised an alarm to members of the public over the operation of a fake Twitter handle, @yusufPhilipYila, which was alleged to belong to its Director, Development Finance, Mr. Philip Yila Yusuf. The apex bank described the operations of the fake Twitter handle as fraudulent.

This was disclosed by the CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, in a press statement that was released on Sunday, June 28, 2020, in Abuja.

According to information from News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Okoroafor pointed out that fake messages relating to the bank’s N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) had been posted on the Twitter handle with the intent of wooing unsuspecting loan seekers and owners of small-scale businesses to enter into correspondence with the fake handle.

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The CBN Director warned unsuspecting members of the public, particularly households, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to stop any form of correspondence with the fake Twitter handle, while also informing them that the real Mr. Yusuf does not currently own a Twitter handle.

In the statement, Okoroafor said, “Although the CBN, through the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB), has indeed disbursed loans to successful beneficiaries under its COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility, none of the bank’s officials engages in direct interactions with prospective or successful applicants.

“We, therefore, find it embarrassing that Mr Yusuf has continued to be inundated with personal calls relating to messages from the impostor handle.

“For the avoidance of doubt, our Director, Mr Yusuf, does not currently own a twitter handle.”

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The CBN Director also cautioned that anyone who enters into correspondence with the operators of the fake Twitter handle, does so at his or her own risk.

He then advised prospective applicants to approach NIRSAL Microfinance Bank or any CBN branch nearest to them or tweet at @cenbank or @NirsalMFB for clarification on the procedure for accessing the TCF or any of the CBN-related loans.

Nairametrics had reported a few days ago that the apex bank, through NIRSAL Microfinance, had disbursed N49 billion out of the N50 billion targeted facility for households and small businesses to over 80,000 beneficiaries. This is just as the CBN Director also said that the bank had earlier announced a couple of measures to ensure that Nigeria’s economy does not slip back into recession due to the coronavirus pandemic.