Presidential palliative: House committee on SME meets finance minister

In furtherance of its determination to see to the timely implementation of the small and medium enterprises component of the presidential palliative grants and loans, the house committee on SME led by its chairman, Mansur Manu Soro, on Friday met with the minister of finance and coordinating economy, Wale Edun, to ascertain the extent of funding and releases made to implementing MDAs.

This information was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by the PA New Media to HCC SME, Aleeyu Darazo, on Friday night.

According to the statement, the house committee had previously met with other officials including the minister of industry, trade and investment, Doris Anite, accountant general of the federation and DG/CEO of SMEDAN, Charles Odii in this regard.

“The 10th House of Representatives under the leadership of Right Honorable Tajudden Abass, PhD places high premium on SME development, hence its decision to create a standing committee on SME to ensure effective oversight of the SME activities and programs of line MDAs

“The presidential palliative grants and loans which comes in 3 tranches of N50,000 grants to 1million nano businesses, N100,000 – N1million and N75billion to manufacturers are due for disbursement anytime soon.

“Recall that President Bola Tinubu directed for the implementation of palliatives to cushion the effects of the removal of petrol subsidy across the agricultural, transportation, social safety and SME sectors of the economy in July 2023 and subsequently, the House of Representatives resolution mandating its committee on SME to interface with officials of government responsible to ensure timely and effective implementation of the palliative,” the statement read in part.