Niger State Govt. to boost Women’s means of livelihood, Grassroots devt.
By :- Abdulkadir Yahaya.
Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago of Niger State has said he will continue to accord priority to Women’s empowerment and other initiatives that will boost their means of livelihood.
The Governor stated this, when he met with Hazaka Women Affinity Group, in Tufa Community, Gurara Local Government Area of the State.
The Group is one of the benefitting women groups of “Nigeria For Women Project”; a World Bank Assisted Programme aimed at improving the livelihoods of women.
Governor Umaru Bago disclosed that the State Government will pay an additional N1 Billion matching grant to enable more women to benefit from the initiative.
The Governor assured the women who are mostly Rice farmers that a modern Rice processing factory would be built to enable them to produce and mill their paddy Rice.
He further promised that Primary Health Care and vocational training centres would be provided to the Community.
The Governor then directed the Ministry of Education as well as its Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management counterpart to off-take paddy Rice from the women for the school feeding programme and humanitarian services of the two Ministries respectively to encourage the women.
The Coordinator, of Nigeria For Women Project, Niger State, Bello Sarki explained that the initiative is targeted at empowering women with grants ranging from N30 to N60 thousand, adding that some members also collect loans within their groups to boost their trade.
He disclosed that 1,118 groups, made up of 20 women each, are registered in Gurara Local Government.
Some of the beneficiaries, Aisha Ahmad, Rukayya Faruk and Salamatu Ibrahim who appreciated the State Government and World Bank for the gesture explained that the initiative has been beneficial to them tremendously as they have all become independent women.
Meanwhile, Governor Umaru Bago on his way back to Minna inspected Gurara Waterfalls with the view to revamping it to boost the tourism potential of the State.
