FG to start distributing N1.6bn Women Entrepreneurship Fund next week

The Federal Government says it is set to commence the disbursement of N1.6 billion National Women Entrepreneurship Fund (NAWEF) next week.

The fund which is already domiciled in the Bank of Industry (BOI), is in line with the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration policy to ensure growth of Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), as part of it’s economy diversification efforts which has trickle down effect on the rural women.

Aisha Jumai Alhassan, minister of women affairs,  disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja when she hosted the CEO of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Gloria Akobundun.

NEPAD visited the ministry to seek partnership for the actualisation of part of it’s mandates that are closely related to that of the ministry.

“As you know poverty is more prevalent in women in Nigeria, by statistics, women are poorer than men, though women are more in population than men therefore we need to do something about that”, the minister stated.

The fund which would be disbursed in phases will be given out in groups of cooperative societies of between 10 to 20 persons.

” The money is real. We would start disbursing from next week, you will have testimonies from the people that we see. We have the money in our hand, it is in the Bank of Industry . It is real and is for every Nigerian woman that is interested in taking up a loan from 10,000 to 100,000 naira, it is interest free, and collateral free loan payable in 6 months,” the minister explained.

She assured of the ministry’s readiness to partner NEPAD being an institution for development of both nationally and internationally.

“We thank you for offering to partner with us, and we hereby undertake to partner with you because anything that touches on our women, children, the aged, the vulnerable people, the disabled people in the society, falls within our mandate”, Alhassan emphasised.

The minister added a technical committee that would work out the modalities for our partnership would be set up.

Earlier in her remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD, Gloria Akobundun averred that the primary responsibility of NEPAD was to ensure the wellbeing of the society by working to alleviate the suffering of women population in the rural areas by empowering them to become self reliant.