Jigawa State Governor, Malam Umar Namadi, has launched the distribution of an N50,000 empowerment package targeting 12,600 women across the state.
The state governor launched the program at Gwari village of Dutse local government, where he commissioned a water Project about 40 days ago that ended 50 years of water scarcity.
Gwari a forgotten Community on the top of rocks on the outskirts of Dutse local government was brought to the government and public attention after a media report on the agony of the community that lacks access to drinking water and other social amenities.
Speaking at the occasion, Governor Umar Namadi said, the program is part of the commitment of his government to empower people of different categories for tackling poverty, promoting jobs, and wealth creation in the state.
He said, 51 percent of the state population of 7.5 million are female, and also women appear to be more economically backward in the state, therefore it is very critical and indispensable to empower women to achieve poverty reduction in the state.
“Today we are launching another round of women empowerment in Jigawa state, in which we targeted 12,600 women with a grant of N50,000 each to improve or start their jobs of choice.
“Besides this, we also signed an MOU with the World Bank for women empowerment, which we now increase our counter funds from N50 Million to N500 million, we also injected N4 billion into the Bank of Industry for empowering our people with special and simple packages for women in addition to different packages we give them in the past.
“We are optimistic that, besides poverty eradication, women empowerment will help in reducing domestic crisis, promote peace and love in the family which will enhance children’s moral upbringing, public productivity growth and development in the state.” Governor Namadi stated.
In her speech at the occasion, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs Hajiya Hadiza Abdulwahab said, a total of two hundred women were selected from Gwari Village and other nearby Communities, while the selection was made based on priority needs across the rural communities in the 27 local government areas of the state.
Some of the beneficiaries who received their alerts during the launch have expressed their gratitude to the Jigawa state Governor for his compassion for women’s empowerment and promised to utilize the grant properly to achieve the desired goals.
