Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has said that the state government would provide soft loans worth N250 million to 25, 000 women across the state.
Tambuwal spoke in Yabo Local Government Area when he presented cheques to 120 women as part of constituency empowerment programme of the Majority Leader of the state House of Assembly, Hon Bello Garba Yabo.
The governor said already, a comprehensive list of the beneficiaries, with the mode of business they are engaged in, had been compiled by the Sokoto State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency.
Tambuwal said, “We intend to reach as many people as possible in all the nooks and crannies of the state. But for a start, we have identified 25,000 women, who will get a minimum of N10,000 and the disbursement will commence at the shortest possible time.
“Because it is loan, we will task all you to repay it at a time to be agreed by all parties.”
Tambuwal said similar gesture would be extended to farmers, youth groups and other members of the public.
“We hope to enhance the capital base of our beneficiaries and for the women, we want them to become more self-reliant, while at the same time providing them with opportunity to contribute their quotas to the economic growth of the state,” he stated.
In a chat with journalists after the event, the governor said he believed creating job opportunities, especially through construction, and injection of more money into the economy remained a sure way out of the current recession in the country.
”Ask any Economist about the way out of recession, and I am sure they will inform you that massive construction efforts, backed by release of funds, will create jobs whose multiplier effects will jumpstart the economic barometer,” he added.
