Soludo to empower small scale entrepreneurs with N2b

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By Madu Obi

Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has earmarked N2 billion to empower small scale entrepreneurs in the state.

The Micro Enterprise Support Sceme, MESS, is one of the innovations in the 2026 budget already before the State House of Assembly.

The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs Chiamaka Nnake made this known while defending budget estimate for her ministry before the Committee on Finance and Appropriation of the Assembly.

Nnake explained that the Ministry of Economic Planning, with a total budget of N6.2 billion, has two major components, adding that N3 billion is for counterpart fundings, while N2 billion is for the Micro Enterprise Support Sceme.

She explained that the micro credit scheme is expected to give most of the major enterprises components in the state support for their businesses.

She said that with the 1 - youth 2 skills programme fully in place and functioning effectively, there are men and women in the market who are running their businesses with minimal capital and, therefore, needed government support in form of grant.

According to the Commissioner, Anambra State has the most conservative and efficient budget performance in Nigeria and have tried to make the 2026 budget realistic.