Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has announced that the state government will hand financial assistance to 2,500 artisans in 2022 in order to stimulate the growth of small and medium enterprises in the state.
Okowa announced this while speaking at Artisans Day Celebration, which held at the Cenotaph, Asaba.
He said that the financial assistance will be given to beneficiaries as grant to enable them develop their businesses, adding that the 2,500 persons will be carefully selected across artisans in the state and from different enterprises.
According to him, there will be budgetary provision for the financial support to the artisans in the 2022 budget, and the money for the assistance to the 2,500 artisans will be released between March and April next year.
The governor, who was handed the “Award for Good Governance’’ by Artisans Association of Nigeria, Delta Chapter at the event, also disclosed that by the grace of God, the state government will in 2023 increase the number of artisans that will benefit from the financial support.
“I must thank God for this day. I am very impressed with the way you people organised yourselves.
“I appreciate the award you have given to me but the greatest gift that you have given to me as the Governor of Delta State is the manner you people have organised yourselves into such a movement, a good movement across the entire Delta state.
“I am truly very blessed by that, because the economy of any nation cannot grow without the artisans.
“The artisans are the growth pole that we have in this country. Many sectors of this nation, including the federal government, need to realise the need to mobilise the artisans so that we can grow our people into greater businesses,” he said.
Okowa encouraged the artisans to be dedicated to their businesses.
