Why government is giving market women interest free loan — Gov Udom

By Udeme Clement

As the government of Akwa Ibom State continues to put measures in place to boost industrial development in the state, Governor Udom Emmanuel has explained the rationale behind the interest free loan scheme, designed to boost the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the area.

Speaking, the governor stressed that the scheme was initiated to stimulate economic activities in the state, in order to create jobs for the people, especially the youths who need to be meaningfully engaged in productive activities. “We also create an enabling business environment for investors to operate, in order to boost economic activities  in the state. For instance, in Akwa Ibom, we issue Certificate of Occupancy (CoF) within 60days, to encourage investments in the state. We only hold equity as value for the people, while the investors work freely to fast track development  in various areas,” he said.

He went on,”The first set of the beneficiaries were 1,000 people, mainly market women in the state. We decided to give the market women first because they have the ability to pay the money back  This is because most of them are into different productivity activities in the state. Before selecting the market women for the scheme, we carried out a survey and we realised that many of those market women have a cooperative group, because they work under the umbrella of that cooperative, it is easier for them to pay back the money, so that it can be given to other entrepreneurs to expand the scope of their enterprises for greater productivity. For instance, if market women under the cooperative arrangement take a loan of let say N500.000,  they can do a lot with it and return the money at the appropriate time.”

On why the loan is  interest free in a country where interest rate from commercial banks is from 25 percent, he said, “Interest rate in the country is high, but we are making our scheme interest free to empower the entrepreneurs to grow their businesses for more outputs optimisation. This is because if we charge these entrepreneurs interest rate on the loan, as they are into small scale businesses, the interest rate would automatically wipe out their profits, making it difficult for their businesses to thrive. Also,we decided to give the market women first, because if you empower 1,000 women, you have indirectly empowered a large population in the state.”

On other developments in the state, he added, “In Akwa Ibom, we are running an inclusive government where attention is given to every aspect of economic development, including infrastructure.  I have a blue print to develop the entire state. Therefore, I started by setting up technical committees made up of experts to develop the state. For instance,I set up a technical committee to develop the sea port.  We also have a technical committee on agriculture and we have launched the second planting season of agriculture, which we started in the state. Also, we have a technical committee on Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). This is to enhance influx of FDIs into the state, which is one of the reasons we issue CoF within a short period for investors to operate freely.

On why the government sent some people to Israel for training, he said, “We decided to send some of our youths to Israel because that country is good in agriculture. Infact, in Israel, they have natural water for fishery, they also have green house for growing crops. So, we want our youths to have this type of training, in order to replicate it in our state. Interestingly, some of them who had the first training are going to have another round of advanced training to sharpen their skills on modern agriculture”.