NATIONAL: FG to give N30,000 grants to bus drivers, taxi drivers, cart pushers, others

THE Federal Government has launched a Transport Track Fund which seeks to give N30, 000 grants to commercial drivers including bus drivers, taxi drivers, motorcycle riders and operators of ride-hailing cabs such as Bolt and Uber.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, ‘Laolu Akande, said, the new initiative is a component of the Survival Fund which is under the Federal Government’s Economic Sustainability Plan put in place to support small businesses and cushion the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the statement  the new initiative is a component of the Survival Fund which is under the Federal Government’s Economic Sustainability Plan put in place to support small businesses and cushion the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement read in part, “The MSME Survival Fund, a component under the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan is designed to support vulnerable Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard jobs in the MSMEs sector. The scheme is estimated to save not less than 1.3 million jobs across the country and specifically impact on over 35,000 individuals per state.”

Explaining what the operation of the Transport Track Fund would be like, the statement likened the new initiative to the Artisans’ Support Track which was launched on October 1.

The statement added, “While verified artisans have started receiving the N30,000 one-time grants, Nigerians operating in the transport business – including rideshare drivers (Uber, Bolt, etc.), Taxi drivers, Bus drivers, Keke Napep riders, Okada riders, cart pushers etc., now have the opportunity to benefit from the scheme.

“The Artisan track is being implemented in three streams, and as of November 25, a total number of 59,000 individual artisan beneficiaries have been paid across 24 states in Stream 1 and Stream 2 states.”

The states include Lagos, Ekiti, Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Abia, Rivers, Plateau, Delta, Taraba, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Edo, Ogun, Ondo, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Enugu, Ebonyi and the FCT.

According to the statement the verification process for artisans under Stream 3 states commenced on November 30.

They include: Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Niger, Imo, Oyo, Osun, Jigawa, Gombe and Benue.

 “Similarly, payment to beneficiaries under the Payroll Support scheme for different categories of MSMEs, ranging from education, hospitality to other sectors, has since commenced.

“The payroll support scheme, which is designed to support vulnerable MSMEs, targets supporting 500,000 beneficiaries with payment of up to N50,000 per employee for a period of three months, starting from October.

“The disbursements to approved payroll support beneficiaries commenced on November 17, 2020. So far, 207,319 individual beneficiaries drawn from 35,837 businesses/MSMEs nationwide have received their first monthly payment from the Survival Fund’s Payroll Support Scheme.” the statement concluded.