REPORTER: EMEFIENA OKONKWO
The Enugu-East Local Government Area, Enugu State, has established the Enugu-East Women Co-operative Revolving Loan Scheme.
This two hundred million naira intervention fund is designed to provide financial support and stimulate economic growth among small-scale enterprises, traders, artisans, youths, low-income households, and farmers within the local government area.
The scheme, which draws its initial capitalization from the Enugu-East Local Government Area’s Human Capital Development Trust Fund, will be managed under a strategic partnership with Umuchinemere Pro-Credit Micro-Finance Bank.
Speaking during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the Executive Chairman, Enugu-East Local Government Area, Pastor Beloved-Dan Obi-Anike, noted that the scheme is a sustainable vehicle for grassroots empowerment and wealth creation.
Pastor Obi-Anike explained that the fund will operate on multiple lending cycles, with provisions for risk management and long-term viability.
Also speaking during the event, the Chairman, Umuchinemere Pro-Credit Micro-Finance Bank, Professor Obiora Ike, pledged that the bank will deploy its expertise in microfinance to handle the disbursement, monitoring, and recovery of loans in line with industry best practices and risk management standards.
Reacting to this landmark agreement, a renowned financial expert, Mrs Maria Ekete, noted that the initiative would greatly reduce poverty by creating jobs for the peasants and curb youth restiveness.
This Women Co-operative Revolving Loan Scheme marks another milestone in Pastor Beloved-Dan Obi-Anike-led administration in Enugu-East Local Government Area, as within two years of his administration, he had paid WAEC fees for over one thousand, seven hundred students in public secondary schools, as well as established free health coverage for the aged and indigent persons in this mostly hard-to-reach local government area.
