The Bayelsa government has restated its commitment to encouraging the growth and expansion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the state.

Ayiba Duba, Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, gave the assurance while speaking at the monthly disbursement of cash grants of N42 million to 210 SMEs from the state.

Mr Duba said the state is looking forward to the growth of the state’s economy, which hitherto revolved around civil service through entrepreneurship promotion.

He said the state has continued to keep the pledge made by Governor Douye Diri-led’s administration to engender prosperity through the empowerment of two persons per ward every month for the past 10 months.

Each beneficiary from the 105 wards in Bayelsa got a cash grant of N200,000 for November 2022.

Also speaking at the presentation ceremony, Faith Opuene, Bayelsa Commissioner for Women, Children Affairs and Empowerment, urged the beneficiaries to resist the urge to spend the grant on festivities during the yuletide.

She explained that the empowerment scheme was done by a seven-member committee, which put a mechanism in place to ensure no beneficiary draws the cash more than once.

She said there were plans to monitor the performance of beneficiaries and further support their businesses in various phases of development, adding that only those who grow their businesses would benefit from such plans.

Susan Saighe-Igbe, one of the beneficiaries who deals in clothes, applauded the state government for supporting small businesses in dire need of additional capital following the recent flood that crippled most businesses in the state.

(NAN)