The Federal Government says it has concluded plans to give interest-free loan to 98,000 beneficiaries of its Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) 2.0 nationwide.

Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development disclosed this in a statement by Nneka Anibeze, her Special Assistant on Media in Abuja on Wednesday.

Umar-Farouq said that this decision was reached following the final verification of Phase 1 applicants, who qualified and were selected to benefit from small loans ranging from N50,000 to N300,000.

She further said that all the beneficiaries of GEEP 2.0 would receive congratulatory and sensitisation text messages in the coming days informing them of their qualification.

According to Umar-Farouq, the money given to the beneficiaries of the empowerment programme is a loan and not a grant and must be repaid within nine months.

Umar-Farouq said that the Ministry was planning a roll – out of the programme nationwide after which an enumeration exercise to capture beneficiaries’ bio-data would take place.