Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara state on Wednesday completed the disbursement N3 billion interest-free loan to another 30,000 beneficiaries under the social investment programme, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 60,000 people in one year.
Similarly, about N100 million called “Owo Arugbo” has so far been disbursed to about 10,000 elderly people across the state in addition to the N3 billion soft loan given to the operators of Micro, Small, and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs).
Governor Abdulrazaq, who coordinated the grand activation of Owo Isowo, an interest-free loan for the beneficiaries from Kwara Central in Ilorin, said, “Between 2020 and now, we have disbursed soft loans to 30,000 beneficiaries. Today’s event marks the commencement of a fresh disbursement of the loans to another set of 30,000 beneficiaries across Kwara State.
Read also: Interest-free loan: Kwara lifts another 30,000 beneficiaries
“This initiative attests to the administration’s policy of gender inclusion, women empowerment, and poverty alleviation. Beneficiaries of Owo Isowo and Owo Arugbo have been 90% women.”
According to the governor, the scheme, which comes in four categories, is designed to fight extreme poverty and stimulate small businesses by providing beneficiaries with interest-free loans, adding that the N10,000 each stipend for the elderly seeks to support them and the weak in a way that it neither threatens their lives nor degrades their human dignity as senior citizens.
Also, Mohammed Brimah, Acting General Manager Kwara State Social Investment Programme added, “the closest to this type of activation anywhere else in Nigeria was the Federal Government’s TraderMoni Activation of about 5,000 petty traders in Kaduna. Therefore, this is also the first time this magnitude of activation will be attempted anywhere in Nigeria till date.”
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