Olawale Senbadejo –
Oyo state Investment and Public Private Partnership Agency in collaboration with Bank of Industry (BoI) disburse Fund for qualifies beneficiaries under OYO NG CARES programs .The first phase was declared by Commissioner of Finance Mr Akintola Ojo, the Director General of OYSIPA Mrs Lola Olutola, OYSIPA Programme Manager Mr Akin Makinde , Bank of Industry Manager Mr Cyril Ayannwun and Oyo state SMEDAN representative was duly represented by Mr Senbadejo Olawale and Mr Awojolu Olabode.
A total of 771 small and medium-scale business owners in Oyo State are beneficiaries of grants amounting to over N77million under the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-Cares).
This came to the fore on Tuesday at the office of the Oyo State Investment and Public Private Partnership Agency (OYSIPA), Ibadan, where some of the beneficiaries received their cheques from representatives of the Oyo State government, the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Oyo NG-CARES.
The beneficiaries comprise those small and medium business owners who found it difficult to pay back loans obtained during COVID-19 and those who found it difficult to operate their businesses due to COVID-19.
The Project manager, Oyo NG-CARES, Mr Akin Makinde said support for the first category of beneficiaries will come in form of assisting those who obtained loans during COVID-19 to pay back about 40 per cent of the remainder of their unpaid loan.
Under this category, Makinde said the fund will be paid directly to the originating microfinance bank with the borrower only informed that certain money had been paid on his or her behalf.
He further stated that the second category of beneficiaries will receive operation grants to assist in the running of their businesses between the sum of N120,000 and N240,000.
Makinde explained that the funds will go directly into the Company’s account on a monthly basis for six months. The event went on successfully.