By Abubakar Hassan
Niger State project coordinating unit of Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP) has disclosed that over N1b had so far been disbursed to women beneficiaries of the project in the state.
The state project coordinator, Mohammed Sarki Bello made the disclosure while briefing members of the media on the general overview of the project and the journey so far, at the conference room of the organization in Minna.
He said the NFWP which is a World Bank financed project was created purposely to support women livelihood for them to be self reliant and by extension support their respective families.
Representative of the project Coordinator who is also the procurement officer of the organization, Dauda Shekarau said only three local government areas which are Agaie, Gurara and Wushishi were captured in the project and that about 20,000 women had so far benefitted from the N60,000 grant of the project.
He explained that their target was 54,000 in Niger State but that so far they have captured about 64,000 adding that before the project wind down in May 2023 they must have reached out to about 80,000 women beneficiaries in the state.
Shekarau said the state was doing well as it is leading in the implementation of the project in Nigeria.
He added that the project which is a $100m world bank project with overall objective of improving the livelihood of women in Nigeria did not just stop at giving women money as grant but also train them and encourage them to form groups called Women Affinity Groups (WAGs).
as well as provide ready market for their products which were mostly agricultural products.
Also, the team lead of Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) firm, one of the partners of the project, Mr. Ebisemiju Bankole said the project was designed to support women to be self reliant and in turn support their families too.
He disclosed that their are some barriers which hinders women participation in socio-economic activities in their domain which might be either cultural or religious barriers.
Bankole indicated that the NFWP was one project that the women must not miss and BCC was concerned about such barriers that might hinders the women participation in the project with the aim of looking into them and see how they can be softened to give the women a soft landing.
Earlier in her remarks, the director of women affairs in the state Ministry of Gender Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Oyitemi Olley said Niger State was qualified to be among the six states for the project because of the commitment of the state government towards uplifting the living standard of women in the state.
She said the project which is directly under her department aimed at supporting and uplifting the living standard of the rural women, confirming that about 20,000 women had so far benefitted from the grant to make them self reliant and also for them to help their families.
The Director also appreciated the State project coordinating unit of NFWP for their commitment towards actualizing their mandate and achieving the overall objective of the project.