NGO decries non-payment of loans by beneficiaries

AN NGO based in Bauchi, Women Empowerment Initiative (WEIN) has cried out over the non-payment of the sum of N6.5m it gave out as a revolving loan to various women groups in Bauchi State under its poverty empowerment scheme.

WEIN Programme Coordinator, Mrs Hajara Phisagih who disclosed this during the annual general meeting of the organization in Bauchi said a total of 97 women groups and 20 individuals are responsible for the debt profile.

She said that all efforts to recover the loans granted by the NGO in Ganjuwa, Alkaleri, Bauchi, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro LGAs had proved abortive as beneficiaries failed to abide by the organization’s repayment agreement.

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Hajara Phisagih indicated that WEIN had put measures in place to recover the loans through the women groups, individual guarantors and husbands of all defaulting beneficiaries.

She warned that “if our organization is pushed to the wall, we may consider taking legal action against defaulters. The scheme is a revolving one but the present situation has denied others from benefiting”.

The WEIN state Coordinator had earlier enumerated some of the achievements of the NGO to include support to over 5,483 orphans and vulnerable children through the provision of educational and nutritional services funded by USAID.

“Through the support of Palladium International, WEIN has successfully trained two thousand women in the area of local chicken production, and this has helped women to become entrepreneurs”, she added.

 Hajara Phisagih also thanked Northern Education Initiative Plus, WaterAid Nigeria and other donors for promoting the well-being of women and the vulnerable groups, assuring that WEIN would ensure the sustainability of these projects in the years to come.

In his remarks, the Sarkin Birshin Gandu, Alhaji Sani Gambo decried the poor attitude of beneficiaries to loan repayment and urged community leaders in the local governments concerned to help WEIN to recover the debt for the benefit of other women groups.