Nigeria has rolled out the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme GEEP 2.0 in Katsina State
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Farouq who rolled out the National phase of the programme presented cheques to peasant farmers and petty business women.
Farouq said that the interest-free loans to beneficiaries were in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to poverty reduction.
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According to the Minister, the beneficiaries are verifiable while the selection process was transparently conducted.
“The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is a programme designed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to create further opportunities for the poor, vulnerable and low-income Nigerians, especially those who are involved in viable informal productive activities with limited financial requirements but have never had access to loans from the formal financial sector.
“It is meant to give priority to the most vulnerable in our society like widows, youth, Persons With Disabilities and the Internally Displaced Persons amongst others.”
Thirteen thousand out of the fifty-nine thousand, one hundred and sixty-one potential beneficiaries across the 34 Local Government Areas (LGA) in the State were verified and paid for the first phase of the interest-free loan.
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A new window will open for the remaining potential beneficiaries to commence registration for the year 2022 of which more vulnerable individuals and groups are expected to openly register at the National Orientation Agency offices by GEEP trained Desk Officers across the 774 LGAs nationwide.
“These selected beneficiaries are now all banked, they have been given ATM cards and are currently being enumerated all of which are our deliberate efforts to enhance financial inclusivity of our poor in a sustainable manner,” the Minister explained
She disclosed that the GEEP 2.0 has three unique products; “The Tradermoni loan of N50,000 is targeted at uplifting the under-privileged and marginalized youths between the ages of 18 – 40 yrs, the MarketMoni loan of N50,000 is for the underprivileged and marginalized women like Widows, divorcees, and other vulnerable groups, while the FarmerMoni loan of between N50,000 to N300,000 is designed for small scale farmers in the communities to improve their agricultural productivity and inclusion into commercial farming.”
The National Roll-Out heralds a launch and disbursement of loans simultaneously in all States of the Federation.