LG chairman’s wife empowers 100 women with N1m in A/Ibom
By Isaac Job, Uyo
No fewer than 100 women from across the 14 wards in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom state at the weekend received N1 million empowerment loan from the wife of the chairman, Mrs. ImaAbasi Ekanem Brown to support women in the area in their various businesses.
Addressing the beneficiaries under the aegis of Mboho Uforo Iban Mkpat Enin, Mrs. Brown described the group as a strategic platform to empower women in the area, declaring that “when a woman is entrusted with money for investment, such money would go a long way to benefit the family, relations and the entire society.”
Mrs. Brown maintained that the group remains a platform for result oriented empowerment for women in the area as all the money given to them in the past has yielded positive results.
She recalled that the empowerment scheme started in November last year with few women who collected the loan for businesses and have refunded the money to enable other women benefit from the scheme as another batch of beneficiaries would take their turn in July.
According to her, out of 420 women in the group, 100 were selected while others not captured would wait for their turn, assuring that all women in the area would benefit from the empowerment scheme.
Senior Special Assistant to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Micro Finance and Enterprise Development, Ime Uwah advised other council areas to emulate the empowerment model as an avenue to reach out to families, villages and the entire local government.
Uwah said Governor Emmanuel would soon fulfill one of his campaign promises to empower small businesses to touch the lives of rural dwellers as microbusinesses remain the pivot of a macro -economy.
He disclosed that the Central Bank’s micro -finance loan would be disbursed and Mkpat Enin women would be considered through their group as their integrity has been tested and since there is a template to establish credibility in their transactions.
The council Chairman, Ekanem Brown said his duty in the area was to domesticate the five-point agenda of Gov. Udom Emmanuel to touch the lives of people and encouraged the beneficiaries to use the funds judiciously.
He warned them not to ignore the days of their humble beginning, but should be diligent and prudent to accommodate others waiting to benefit from the scheme.
