Amaechi made the assertion
during the empowerment of Women and Youth programme in Rivers State by the
National Directorate of Employment NDE and the Office of the Minister of State
for Labour and Employment.
Nigeria’s Minister of
Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi says women should be given more of the
empowerment opportunities made available by the Federal Government as they are
good managers of resources.
He said, “5000 persons will
be given loans without interest. Between N100,000 to N5 million. What it means
is that both male and female will receive this money to do business. Out of the
5000 names, let’s give 3000 women, because they are good managers.
“I didn’t say free loan, I
said interest free loan. It means that you’ll pay back. We must see your
business plan or proposal, we must see how it works and know whether we’ll be
able to recover the money. Why we say no interest is so that you’re not put
under pressure.”
The minister expressed gratitude
to President Muhammadu Buhari for the initiative of empowering Rivers people
with business loans and vocational skills acquisition.
“We are grateful to the
honourable Minister of State for Labour, the DG, NDE and the President. They
have told me how much they are bringing into Rivers State, N750 million naira,
anybody who cannot manage it cannot manage anything…its the first lesson we
should learn, that’s why I said out of the 5000 names, we should look for 3000
women, not because they are women, but because they manage better.
“Then there are 30 persons
that will be trained per LGA by the NDE and they will be attached to Artisans
to work with, and the Federal Government will be paying you directly at the end
of the month,” he said.
Amaechi appealed that the
intervention should not be carried out solely along party lines, but extended
to everybody in the state. “Let’s involve everybody, don’t do Party, because
the President’s intention is not just to lift APC members, but to lift PDP members
as well as other Nigerians. Here in Rivers State, there are as many PDP members
that are hungry, as there are APC members that are hungry, let’s carry them
along.”
Speaking at the event,
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo SAN said the
greatest employment is self-employment. He expressed the President’s passion to
empower Nigerians, particularly the very poor through the scheme.
“This is one of the very
many programmes by which the President has given us marching orders to ensure
that millions of people are lifted out of poverty every year. In the Federal
Executive Council, any memo that comes to FEC, the first question the President
asks is how many jobs will this create for Nigerians? That is how concerned the
President is about the people. This is the first government in so many years
that is so concerned about the people in the lowest rung of the ladder and that
is why the President has targeted the very poor of the poor. This is why we are
giving out loans for people to start macro, small and medium scale businesses.
“The Honourable Minister of
Transportation insisted that we must come to Rivers State, don’t forget that
there states who have not received, it is the doggedness and tenacity of the
Minister that has brought us here today,” Keyamo said.
Also speaking, Director
General of the NDE, Dr. Nasir Mohammed Ladan said, “what we are going to do
today is only the beginning of what we would do in Rivers State. Our target is
25,000 and we will achieve it.”
In addition to the skills
acquisition, monthly payment of those being trained and the macro credit
facility, 10,000 persons would also be given N10,000 each for small businesses.
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