Borno Govt to empower rural women with soft loans

The Borno Government says it is planning to empower rural women with soft loans to enable them engage in business ventures.
The Director of Women Affairs, Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, made the disclosure when she spoke on International Day for Rural Women in Maiduguri on Saturday.
Kolo said that the object was to empower the women and enhance their living conditions.
She said “the state government has in the last few years implemented various programmes aimed at enhancing the living conditions of rural women
“We have assisted some of them with training in agriculture and supplied them with imputes and other implements,” she said.
Kolo expressed regrets that most rural women in the state live in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps due to Boko Haram insurgents.
“Since most of them are not in the villages now, we have decided to train them in various trades so they can stand on their own after returning home.
“We have been training them in tailoring, soap making, knitting and other skills, ” she said.
Kolo said that some of the women were also empowered with entrepreneurship skills to prepare them to become good business women.
“We plan to extend a micro trading credit scheme in the state to the rural women to further empower them.
“The scheme is actually part of the Federal Government women empowerment programmes extended to the state”.
Kolo said that government had entered into an agreement with the bank operating the scheme to relax some of the conditions attached to the scheme to make it easier for the rural women to access..

SOURCE.. VANGUARD