A total of 27,600 women in Benue State have been shortlisted for the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) grant and soft loans as part of the state government’s efforts to empower women to become self-reliant.
The commissioner for cooperatives and rural development, Joy Luga, who disclosed this in Makurdi, said Governor Hyacinth Alia has not been relenting to ensure that women receive all the support to improve their living standard and in turn support their families.
She said, “The inclusion of rural women in government plans was in line with the governor’s Strategic Development Plan and message of the 2024 International Women’s Day celebration.”
She said the ministry had commenced the training of women in various skills and would offer soft loans to them after the training which include fashion/hair designing, beads making, cosmetics, soap and detergent making, ICT trainings etc, adding that the loans would be range from, N100,000 to N200,000 per person.
She said, “At our level in the Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development, we have map out modalities on how to empower women for a better living.
“We have trained them in various areas and we are about giving money to them any moment from now.”
The commissioner however stated that the training and empowerment schemes are not only for women, but also men interested in advancing their socio-economic status.
“We are not leaving men out because you cannot talk of a woman without a man. We are their backbone. After disbursing these monies to the women, we are training men in the whole state and we will make sure to reach out to them so that when they are celebrating their men’s day, they will have the ministry of rural development at heart,” she added.
The commissioner said the essence of training the women is to ensure that they make proper use of the loans, so as to become more useful to their families and immediate communities. She added that the ministry has a lot to do for the people of Benue State, including the girl child.
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