The Federal Government on Friday concluded its first Economic Sustainability Committee in 2022, which revealed that about 2.1 million jobs have been retained or created through the implementation of the ESP programmes. It was also disclosed that the NSIA will fund Solar Power Naija with N10 billion as part of 5 million household’s connections target.
The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, presided over a virtual meeting of the Committee on Friday, January 14 at the Presidential Villa.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Mariam Katagum, revealed that while all states of the federation have received varying levels of the N75 billion Survival Fund with its different schemes, each state would soon receive a minimum of N1.7 billion cumulative from all the schemes.
What they are saying
The ESP was launched in 2020 to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the economy. The presentations revealed that 2.1 million jobs have been retained or created through the implementation of the ESP programmes.
Others include the approval of N10 billion by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to fund the deployment and local assembly of 200,000 (off-grid) Solar Homes Systems under the “Solar Power Naija” partnership between both the NSIA and Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
The Trade Ministry also revealed that under the N75 billion survival fund every state would soon receive a minimum of N1.7 billion cumulative from all the schemes.
“Lagos, Abia and Kano States have already crossed the bar, with Lagos reaching over N2.5B and Kano over N2B. No State so far has received anything less than N1 billion,” Katagum said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State, Budget & National Planning, Clem Agba, stated that “While about 1.3 million jobs were retained through the MSME and Payroll support, 774,000 jobs were created from the Public Works Programme and 26,021 jobs from roads construction/rehabilitation.”
In the same vein, the Committee was briefed that over 1.1 million Nigerians have benefitted from the different schemes under the ESP MSME Survival Fund, thereby saving millions of jobs. A breakdown showed there are 459,334 beneficiaries under the Payroll Support Scheme; 307,687 beneficiaries from the Artisan & Transport Scheme.
Similarly, 82,491 Nigerians are so far beneficiaries of the General MSME Grants Scheme, and another 17,468 of the Guaranteed Offtake Scheme. Also, 250,000 business names were registered free under the Survival Fund’s CAC Formalization Support Scheme.
What you should know
Recall Nairametrics reported last December that the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has said that it is collaborating with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to invest an initial sum of N10 billion to provide over 200,000 solar power for homes under the ‘Solar Power Naija’ programme.
The NSIA in its statement said, “This investment by NSIA is targeted at catalysing 200,000 off-grid connections in the first instance with a goal of reaching over 500,000 systems as the fund revolves and is expanded through to 2023.
“The programme is estimated to also create up to 20,000 jobs across manufacturing, assembly, installation and retail over the period.
“Additionally, this partnership will help Nigeria meet its Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) target of increasing electrification, this is a step towards creating five million solar connections over the next few years.’’
