Minister Moves to Improve Grassroots Devt
From Efem Nkanga in Uyo
In a bid to ameliorate poverty among women at the grassroots level,the Minister for Women affairs and Youth Development,Obong Rita Akpan will sign a memorandum of understanding this week with the Bank of Agriculture,Cooperative and Rural Development to provide a window of micro credit,financial facility the grassroots women through the coperate society.
She made this disclosure in an interactive session with newsmen in Uyo.She disclosed that already her ministry has singled out 15 states of the federation to benefit from the credit facility,while a few NGO's have been earmarked to to manage the funds.
Akpan stressed that ''within the next three weeks to one month,grass roots women from 15 states will benefit from N200 million credit facility''.
The minister also disclosed that the uncompleted cottage industries embarked upon by her predecessor in 1992 in Yobe,Abuja and Bayelsa states will be completed before the end of December.
She stated that the vegetable oil cottage industry in Damaturu,Yobe state,the the poultry cottage industry in Abuja and the salt cottage industry in Bayelsa state on completion will be handed over to the women of the states through their various state governments.
The minister added that the projects had not been completed for the past four years because there had been no capital allocations for the women affairs ministry adding that the President had emphasized that he wanted all uncompleted projects completed before new ones are embarked upon.
Obong Akpan also disclosed that after the controversies generated by the N116 million given to the National Council of Women Society by the President for distribution to grassroots women which was not properly utilized and the meager N39 million approved for the ministry, she has decided to partner with the private sector to augment the funds available to the ministry to empower the grassroots women.
She declared that the policy of her administration is to partner with state governments, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and development organizations aimed at treating and handling issues that concern women and children.
She declared that poverty eradication among women in Nigeria should not be left for the Federal Government and State government alone, but should be the concern of everyone in the nation.
According to Akpan, everyone should be led to take care of feminine poverty and eradicate the scourge of poverty from the midst of women.
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