The Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme GEEP 2.0 has been launched in Katsina State, Nigeria.
Peasant farmers and small-business owners received checks from Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development Sadiya Farouq, who launched the program’s national phase.
Farouq claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to eradicating poverty was consistent with the beneficiaries receiving interest-free loans.
The Minister claims that the beneficiaries can be verified and that a transparent selection process was followed.
“The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is a program created by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to expand opportunities for the poor, vulnerable, and low-income Nigerians, particularly those who are engaged in viable, informal, productive activities with modest financial needs but have never had access to loans from the formal financial sector.
It is intended to provide precedence to those who are most at risk in our society, including widows, children, people with disabilities, and those who are internally displaced, among others.
The first part of the interest-free loan was validated and paid for by 13,000 of the 59,000, 186 potential recipients spread across the 34 Local Government Areas (LGA) in the State.
More vulnerable people and groups are anticipated to openly register at the National Orientation Agency offices by GEEP-trained Desk Officers across the 774 LGAs nationally in the year 2022, when a new window would open for the remaining prospective beneficiaries to begin registration.
The Minister said, “These chosen beneficiaries are now all banked, they have all been issued ATM cards, and they are currently being enumerated, all of which are our purposeful attempts to increase financial inclusion of our poor in a sustained way.”
According to her, the GEEP 2.0 offers three special products: “The Tradermoni loan of N50,000 is targeted at uplifting the underprivileged and marginalized youths between the ages of 18 and 40 yrs, the MarketMoni loan of N50,000 is for the underprivileged and marginalized women like Widows, divorcees, and other vulnerable groups, while the FarmerMoni loan of between N50,000 and N300,000 is designed for small scale farmers in the communities to improve their agricultural output.”
The National Roll-Out announces a start and simultaneous disbursement of loans in all States of the Federation.