Ministry disburses N400m for women empowerment
The Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development has disbursed over N400 million to beneficiaries of its National Women Empowerment Fund (NAWEF) programme currently in eight pilot states.
The Minister, Aisha Jummai Alhassan disclosed this recently while delivering a keynote address at the mid-term review meeting on the 17th National Council on Women Affairs and Social Development.
She said NAWEF programme was established by a presidential proclamation as a micro finance scheme to provide women, particularly those in the rural areas access to soft loans for their business activities.
She said implementation has commenced in eight pilot states with the Bank of Industry (BoI) disbursing the fund to the beneficiaries.
“A total sum of N476.7m has already been disbursed to beneficiaries from the eight pilot states which include, Adamawa, Yobe, Jigawa, Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Osun States,” she said.
The Minister expressed hope on more achievements across the states, assuring that the ministry is committed to sustaining harmonious working relationship in other to advance better livelihood of women, girls and other vulnerable groups.
The Commissioner of Women Affairs in Jigawa state, Hajiya Ladi Ibrahim, lamented the status of women in the country while saying the meeting has been very instrumental to the improvement of women in the state.
The mid-term review meeting is an annual event and a unifying platform for all stakeholders and gender experts in the sector, to take stock of the status of implementation of the resolution made at the last national council meeting.