Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti has announced an intervention grant to support and scale local Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across all 17 Local Government Areas of the state.
The grant, a ₦306 million technology-enabling business initiative named NKATA, IS a carefully targeted macroeconomic intervention, capable of raising business productivity, strengthening local enterprises, widening the tax base, creating employment and accelerating the emergence of a technology-enabled economy across the 17 local government areas of the state, with a strong emphasis on youths, small businesses, entrepreneurship, innovation and digital transformation, adding that, “the grant could turn Abia’s small businesses into a new engine of growth.
Unveiling the programme while receiving the management team of Abia State Technology Skills Acquisition Centre (ATSAC) in Umuahia, Governor Otti explained that the N306 million intervention fund had already been earmarked for qualified beneficiaries who meet the programme’s requirements, expressing optimism that the initiative would produce a measurable impact.
Rather than handing out direct cash to business owners, the NKATA program uses a strictly tech-driven, non-cash deployment model to prevent fund diversion. Funds are deployed entirely through vetted technology service providers, software firms, and internet providers. The grant helps local entrepreneurs adopt digital tools, integrate artificial intelligence, and automate their daily operations to increase productivity. The initiative pairs MSMEs with local and diaspora business mentors to help match their needs with scalable technological solutions.
He said: “I want to congratulate everyone. The N306 million is available, but beneficiaries must meet all necessary conditions. In a few months’ time, I want to hear that this intervention has yielded results, not just in monetary terms, but also in job creation, poverty reduction and empowerment of our people.”
The Abia governor said the programme aligns with his administration’s vision of building a productive, self reliant and innovation-driven economy.
The most significant aspect of NKATA, the governor stressed, is not the amount involved, but its deeper economic meaning, which lies in the structure of the intervention, adding that: “The programme is not designed as an indiscriminate cash-distribution exercise in which beneficiaries simply receive money that may immediately disappear into pressing household consumption.
NKATA, in local parlance means basket, portraying the idea behind the scheme in providing a common source of funding for the SMEs.
