30,000 traders to benefit from FG’s loan scheme in A’Ibom

No fewer than 30, 000 petty traders in Akwa Ibom State are expected to benefit from the Federal Government’s  micro-credit scheme under the first phase of its Social Investment Programme (SIP) empowerment scheme.

The State’s focal person in-charge of the Social Investment Programme, Mr Ita Okon, disclosed this at the training of 310 N-Power volunteers in Uyo, the State capital.

Okon said that the programme, tagged “Market Moni” was meant to give soft loans to petty traders in the State “to boost their volume of trade”.

He explained that the beneficiaries would be drawn from registered cooperative societies in the State, who would be entitled to loans ranging from N10,000 to N50,000 each.

Okon explained that “the beneficiaries were expected to refund the loan at the end of this first phase so as to qualify for the second phase of the scheme”.

He further disclosed that the second phase of the loan was pegged at N100, 000 per beneficiary.

“Akwa Ibom is fortunate to be among the first benefiting states in this pilot scheme,” Okon said.

Inaugurating the Social Investment Training Programme for the N-Power volunteers, the Akwa Ibom Head of Civil Service (HoS), Mrs Ekereobong Akpan, commended the Federal Government for initiating programme, which she noted is aimed at poverty reduction.

Akpan, who was represented by the permanent secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Investment, Mr Oliver Udokpo, noted that “any poverty eradication programme was dear to the state government”.

“The Social Investment Programme is both a heart and head programme. It is a programme that would get our people out of poverty.

“Permit me to say that a country’s economic development is a function of the number of people living above poverty level.

“I therefore call on all the citizens of Akwa Ibom to key into this kind gesture by the Federal government and join hands in reducing poverty in our state,” Akpan pleaded.

Akpan said that the state government had already provided manpower, accommodation, vehicles and state coordination offices for the programme.

The Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government included the N-Power job programme for unemployed graduates and Home Grown Feeding for primary school pupils.

Other programmes under the scheme are Conditional Cash Transfer, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and micro-credit scheme also known as “Market Moni”.