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No fewer than 210 vulnerable women farmers, widows, petty traders and women with disabilities have been empowered with cash and agricultural items across the 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi State.
The State Governor, Alh. Yahaya Bello, who flagged off the distribution on Thursday in Lokoja, said the gesture was the efforts of Federal Government in collaboration with State Government to eliminate poverty and hunger among the women folks and uplift their livelihood.
The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Chief Edward Onoja, added that the initiative would improve the lives of the beneficiaries to enable them contribute their quotas to the economy of the state and the country at large.
He advised the women leader to distribute the items judiciously inline with his policy of Fairness, equity and justice.
He urged women to intensifies their prayers for Governor Yahaya Bello to enable God release the presidential mandate on him, stressing that what women in Kogi are benefiting could reach out to other women in the country.
He noted that this was the first time Kogi state has a leader who had shown national recognition and reckoned globally.
”I did not choose to go for presidency because of myself but for the benefit of people of Kogi and Nigerians, especially the less privilege, vulnerable women and children in the society,” he said.
He commended the management of WEMA Bank for their promised to support Kogi Women in improving their lives, assuring the Bank that it will not be disappointed by women for such gesture.
He congratulated beneficiaries of the empowerment and advised them to use the the cash and agricultural items judiciously to improve their lives.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Fatima Buba, said a total of 210 women would benefit across the 21 local government areas of the state.
She said the essence of the empowerment was to eradicate poverty and hunger among women, widows, and people with disabilities.
This, she said would improve their lives to enable them contribute their quotas to the economy of the state and the country at large. She
She said Kogi Women were industrious, enterprising and versatile, especially in agriculture, and advised them to use the items for their intended purposes.
The Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr David Apeh, commended the Federal and State Government for the gesture, as well as Wema Bank for ensure readiness to support women farmers in the state.
Apeh appealed to the bank to simplify the loan conditions to enable the women access it.
Also speaking, Manager of Wema Bank, Mrs Chinasa Isaac, assured the readiness of the bank to support government in its empowerment programmes.
She said the bank has products targeting women folks, saying it was ready to give them loan at the range of N100,000 to N1 million to boost their businesses.
Some beneficiaries, Funke Abolaji, Sepuwa Danladi, Ramatu Yusuf and Omoshade Yemi from Yagba West, Yagba East, Idah, Ofu and Ibaji Local Governments respectively, commended the Federal and state government for the empowerment.
They expressed happiness for being beneficiaries of the programme and promised to use the cash as well as agricultural items according to expectations.
The Agricultural items distributed include: seedlings such as Beans, rice, maize, grandnut and farm implements such as wheel barrow, shovel, spraying container, fertilizer, chemicals, among others.
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