By Tina George, Minna
There is massive youth turnout for the ongoing free business registration for small and medium businesses in Niger state.
When ASHENEWS visited the venue of the registration located opposite the Newsline Newspaper in Tunga Minna, the youth were waiting to be called upon.
Speaking ASHENEWS, the State Coordinator of the Programme in Niger state, Malam Mohammed Dodo said that the turn out is beyond expectation.
According to him, when the programme began on the 19th October, there was a low response but recently, the turnout is more than they could handle in a day.
“Right now the turnout is so impressive that it has increased beyond our expectations,” Dodo said.
He said to ensure that rural areas were carried along, he sent 100 forms to each of the local government areas to enable those who may not be able to come to the state capital to register their businesses.
He said that the programme is targeting 6,606 beneficiaries in the state expressing optimism and that the state will achieve its target.
He noted that the large crowd is due to the nature of the programme as the business owners would have required between N15,000 to N20,000 to register their business.
“Instead of paying N15,000 or N20,000 to register a business, one will not part with any amount for this one. That is why you can see much people here to register their businesses,” he said.
Speaking to some of the people who were there to register their businesses, they told ASHENEWS that they had to take advantage of the gesture of the federal government to register their businesses free.
A Tailor, Moses Uriah said that he has been unable to register his business because he is not been financially buoyant.
“When I heard of this, I didn’t take it seriously at first but I later decided to go for it since it is free.
“I have been given a number and soon it will reach my turn. People have been going in and coming out and said they have been saying they filled the form and registered their name. I cannot wait to get in there and get mine done,” he said.
