lawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
The federal government has rolled out its Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) 2.0.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq launched the national phase of the programme at the Daura Kasuwar Kofar ‘Yan Kudu market along Daura road, Katsina State at the weekend.
She said during the presentation of cheques to peasant farmers and petty business women, that the interest-free loans to beneficiaries was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowed commitment to fight poverty and its devastating impact from all angles
Of the 59,161potential beneficiaries were registered across the 34 LGAs of Katsina State only 13,000 beneficiaries were verified and cleared to benefit from the interest free loans for the first phase of the programme, while new registration is yet to commence.
The ministry would publicly announce the second phase of 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 LGA ‘s nationwide.
The minister stated that the beneficiaries are verifiable while the selection process was transparently conducted.
“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,” she said.
GEEP 2.0 has three unique products: Tradermoni loan of N50,000 is targeted at uplifting the under-privileged and marginalised youths between the ages of 18 – 40 years; MarketMoni loan also of N50,000 which is for the under-privileged and marginalised women like widows, divorcees, and other vulnerable groups, as well as FarmerMoni loan of between N50,000 to N300,000 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.
