March 18, (THEWILL)- About 27,600 women in Benue State are to benefit from the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) grant and other soft loans as part of efforts to empower them to be self-reliant.
The Commissioner for Cooperatives and Rural Development, Mrs Joy Luga, who made the disclosure in Makurdi on Monday, explained that Governor Hyacinth Alia has been pushing to ensure that women receive all necessary supports to excel.
According to her, the inclusion of rural women in government plans was in line with the Governor’s Strategic Development Plan and message of the 2024 International Women’s Day celebration.
While appreciating the Governor for providing funds for disbursement to women across the state, the Commissioner explained that the Ministry had commenced training women in various skills and would offer soft loans to them afterwards.
“At our own level here in the ministry of cooperatives and rural development, we have mapped out modalities on how to empower the women in the society.
“We have trained women in cooperatives and associations to give them soft loans that will lift them from the poor level to a higher level that they can stand and boost a better living standard than before,” she said.
According to the Commissioner, Governor Alia is not relenting in ensuring that money is available to be disbursed to the women.
She, however, stated that the training and empowerment schemes are not only for women but also for men interested in advancing their socio-economic status, noting that training and empowerment for men would be done at the appropriate time.
“After disbursing money to women, we are training men in the state and will reach out to them so that when celebrating Men’s Day, they will have the Ministry of Rural Development at heart and appreciate us,” she said.
She added that the ministry has a lot to do for the people of Benue State, including the girl child, assuring that very soon, the ministry will be having a lot of programmes in the area of cooperatives for the girl child in the rural areas.
“We will be having some training with them to teach them how to be careful and how to care for themselves,” she added.
The Commissioner assured of partnership with the Ministry of Women Affairs on programmes that are helpful to them in the area of sanitation.
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