The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has concluded plans to roll out the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP 2.0) in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
This follows the final verification of phase 1 applicants who qualified and were selected to benefit from small loans ranging from N50,000 to N300,000.
The Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, said that all beneficiaries of GEEP 2.0 shall receive congratulatory and sensitisation text messages in the coming days informing them of their qualification.
She re-emphasised that the empowerment programme is a loan and not a grant.
She said: “All qualified beneficiaries will soon receive their disbursement alerts. We wish to remind all qualified beneficiaries that this is a loan, payable without interest. It is not a grant or a government windfall. It is a soft interest-free loan that must be paid back within nine months”.
The minister also announced that the ministry is planning a rollout of the programme nationwide, after which an enumeration exercise to capture beneficiaries’ biodata will take place.
The GEEP 2.0 is a loan scheme designed by the Nigerian government to provide financial inclusion and give credit access to poor and vulnerable individuals, including Persons With Disability and persons at the bottom of the economic pyramid who are engaged in small scale commercial activities under its three flagship schemes: MarketMoni, TraderMoni and FarmerMoni.
Tradermoni aims at uplifting under-privileged and marginalised youths aged between 18-40 years in Nigeria by providing them with loans of N50,000, while MarketMoni targets under-privileged and marginalised women aged between 18-55 years like widows and divorcees, amongst other vulnerable groups.
They get interest-free loans of N50,000 payable within 6-9 months.
FarmerMoni is for farmers aged between 18-55 years in rural areas that operate in the agricultural space.
They are provided with loans of up to N300,000 for farming input. This scheme has 12 months, including three months moratorium and nine months repayment period.
