Federal Gov’t, Stakeholders To Grant 3m Women Access To Renewable Energy Credit

The federal government, through the Ministry of Women Affairs, and in collaboration with the Nigeria Consumer Credit Corporation (CrediCorp), among others, will grant 3 million Nigerian women access to N5 million worth of renewable energy credit.

Themed, “PowerHer 774 – End Energy Poverty for Women,” the project aims at enabling women access local renewable energy technologies and tools to enable them resolve their energy at home and at their places of business, and repay the loan within a period of 18 months to two years.

Speaking at the event, the minister of Women Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim noted that 80,000 Nigerian women die annually as a result of toxic carbons they inhale while cooking with firewood and kerosene stoves; while women spend no less than 8 hours a day making fire for cooking.

Women and children in rural communities also constitute a greater part of the 48 percent (85 million) of the nation’s population living without electricity.

In these rural communities, Ibrahim said, “darkness equals absence of opportunities, indignity, lack of safety and hope. These must change.”

“’PowerHer 774’ will provide Nigerian women access to solar home systems, clean cooking technologies, solar water pumps, e-mobility tools, among others in every corner of the nation. Our ambition is high, but it must be so if we wish to see women trained as energy entrepreneurs, women certified as energy managers, solar technicians, and see women empowered with solar tools for agriculture, small and medium enterprises and rural industries.

“It is a movement, a call to action to tell the world that Nigerian women are not just recipients of aid but architects of transformation,” averred Ibrahim.

Speaking at the event, managing director of CrediCorp, Uzoma Nwagba, major funders of the programme said, the choice of women beneficiaries lies with the fact that women are more credit- judicious than men.

“Our records, data and history indicate that women repay credit/loans 20 percent more than men. They pay in time and make complement payments of loans than men. Women have major multiplier effect when provided loans.”

Via its latest fund, Credit Access for Light and Mobility (CALM) launched in February, CrediCorp will provide Nigerians, and in particular, women through the Ministry of women Affairs, with funds that will enable them acquire solar panels and alternative energy for their homes, businesses, as well as convert their vehicles to CNG engines.

The nationwide programme/fund is open to all women in the rural and urban areas, who have access to either a regular or a predictable source of income.

“By predictable source of income, we don’t mean only those with white collar jobs. It includes traders, shop operators etc. We work with financial institutions – banks, microfinance institutions, which will look at prospective beneficiaries’ stream of income, be it a trade or a shop, where one earns at least N1000 or N2000 per day, and can pay N200 or N500 a day to service the loan. That way you can pay off the loan for the solar technology within 18 months or a year.

“Hence, it’s a consumer credit, which means credit for an individual but that are used for either household needs and or businesses,” concluded Nwagba.