FG: 2.1 million jobs were created through the implementation of ESP programmes

The Federal Government of Nigeria 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 programs. It was also disclosed that the NSIA will fund Solar Power Naija with N10 billion as part of the 5 million household connections target.

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, 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.

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.

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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.