The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has inaugurated the federal government’s N50 billion grants for small businesses in Delta.

At the inauguration in Asaba on Thursday, SMEDAN director-general, Charles Odii, told journalists that the agency was against weaponising poverty to cause civil unrest.

Mr Odii said President Bola Tinubu earmarked N50 billion for at least one million NANO businesses across Nigeria to fight poverty, of which each beneficiary would receive N50,000.

“The NANO businesses of SMEDAN are businesses that have at least three employees with a turnover of less than three million naira,” he said.

According to him, poverty, which SMEDAN is out to prevent, does not know political party, sex or age.

“A hungry man is an angry man.

“There is a triangle that I like to say – hunger leads to anger and anger leads to violence. This is the reason we have a lot of youth unrest.

“One of the things we are doing as a long-term solution is to help improve the capacity of our people while the short-term solution is to give them grants as we are doing now.

“My appeal to everyone is not to weaponise poverty but let’s reach out to our young people and small businesses to help them grow,” he said.

The DG said the idea behind the N50 billion fund for small businesses was to enable business owners to unlock access to more funds and build wealth.

Mr Odii, therefore, urged the Delta state government to partner with SMEDAN to grow the state’s small businesses.

“When a small business grows, a family grows. When you feed one small business owner, you have fed at least 10 people.

“SMEDAN can’t do this alone, we need the support of state governments to grow small businesses in the country.

“I am in Asaba to speak to small business owners across the nine Local Government Areas of Delta North Senatorial Districts and to support them through training, giving them grants to start and grow their businesses,” he said.

Mr Odii said beneficiaries of the grants were selected seamlessly via a technology-based system that supported merit over bias.

He disclosed that the agency had covered 14 out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory intended.

Some beneficiaries acknowledged the receipt of their N50,000, pledging to use the money efficiently to grow their businesses.

(NAN)