By Ere-ebi Agedah
The Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme GEEP 2.0 has been officially rolled out.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq launched the National phase of the programme at Daura Kasuwar Kofar ‘Yan Kudu market along Daura road, Katsina state at the weekend.
Minister Umar Farouq 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.
“The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is a programme designed by President Muhammadu Buhari administration to create further opportunities for the poor, vulnerable and low-income Nigerians, especially those who are involved in viable informal productive activities with limited financial requirements, but have never had access to loans from the formal financial sector.
“It is meant to give priority to the most vulnerable in our society like widows, youth, Persons With Disabilities and the Internally Displaced Persons amongst others”.
Fifty Nine Thousand, One Hundred and Sixty One(59,161) potential beneficiaries were registered across the 34 LGAs of Katsina State but only 13,000 beneficiaries were verified and cleared to benefit from the interest free loans for the 1st phase of the programme, while new registration is yet to commence. The Ministry will publicly announce the 2nd 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”.
GEEP 2.0 has three unique products.
Tradermoni loan of N50,000 is targeted at uplifting the under-privileged and marginalized youths between the ages of 18 – 40 yrs while
MarketMoni loan also of N50,000 is for the under-privileged and marginalized women like Widows, divorcees, and other vulnerable groups.
FarmerMoni loan of between N50,000 to N300,000 is 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.
