Rivers: NDE flags off empowerment loan scheme for beneficiaries
Barth Ndubuwah,Port Harcourt
Nigerians have been called upon to join the trend with the view to change the narrative which says that Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world.
The call was made in Port Harcourt this week by the Director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo during the orientation/flag off ceremony of the 2022 Rural Employment Promotion Department Empowerment Loan Scheme, Rivers State Chapter.
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Rural Employment Promotion [REP], Rivers State Chapter, had organised an orientation/flag off ceremony of 2022 REP Empowerment Loan Scheme for beneficiaries in the following areas; Agricultural Empowerment Scheme (AES), Community Base Agricultural Empowerment Scheme (CBAES), Graduate Agricultural Empowerment Scheme (GAES) and Sustainable Agricultural Development And Empowerment Scheme (SADES).
Represented by the Rivers State Coordinator of NDE, Mrs Maureen Okeji, the Director General debunked the insinuations that Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world, seeing the efforts of the President through the Ministry of Agriculture and the result oriented food production in commercial quantity despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that poverty is a global phenomenon now due to all the natural disasters that have taken place, but in our capacity as a training facility and a Directorate that was set up to combat unemployment, the NDE is doing everything possible to fight this unemployment or poverty as you mentioned.
“The present administration through our President, Muhammadu Buhari is fighting as you can see. We have experienced the rice pyramid in Nigeria and every other thing the Ministry of Agriculture is putting in place to make sure that Nigeria feeds not only herself, but exports agricultural produce outside the nation,” Fikpo said.
Looking at the level of unemployment in the country, the DG opined that the efforts of the Federal Government to alleviate poverty in the country is such that there are no compromise from beneficiaries, stating food surplus and export will become the order of the day.
He advised all the beneficiaries to invest their loans appropriately in order to get fruitful results, hence qualify for the next batch of the empowerment scheme, as well as loan.
He warned that beneficiaries should not see their loan as grant, Christmas bonus or fanfare, so they should be committed to its repayment six months after disbursement.
“From what we have, this programme is targeted at the 50 percent of the trained beneficiaries for financial empowerment. The next batch will come subsequently as we all know, the NDE is a government agency where everything is budgeted.
“We don’t have any other fund outside what the government has given us, hence it remains 50 percent. I advise non beneficiaries to keep holding on, like I said it is phase by phase. The next phase will get to them so they shouldn’t despair, they shouldn’t be frustrated, but to keep holding on as the Federal Government will get to them. This is the assurance the Federal Government is giving them,” the DG said.
Speaking to journalists at the event, Mr. Aniamaka Ifechukwudi one of the beneficiaries of the NDE Federal Government empowerment scheme in Rivers State assured NDE and the Federal Government that Nigerians remain hard working people, hence he was optimistic that the scheme will yield the expected positive results.
He disclosed that they actually received training on different areas of agriculture, where any of the beneficiaries can take advantage and make meaningful investments for fruitful results.
He said: “I believe by the grace of God just as we were advised that it is not a grant but a loan. We will work very hard to ensure that we don’t disappoint the Directorate.
“We know that if we are able to meet up with the payment requirement, we will also be entitled to the renewal of the facility.
“I want to assure NDE and the Federal Government that by the grace of God, we know that Nigerians are hard working, just give us the basic things and forget about the rest, we will make our country proud.
“Series of training sessions were organised. We had the issue of the value chain that the training had exposed us further.”
Highlight of the event included more teaching inputs for the beneficiaries on the implication of not paying back the loans, a question and answer session.
