NDE disburses loans to police officers’ widows in Nasarawa
NDE disburses loans to police officers’ widows in Nasarawa
By Awayi Kuje
Widows
Lafia, July 11, 2019 (NAN) The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has disbursed N10,000 each as loans to 113 widows of police officers in Nasarawa State.
This is to enable them engage in income generating activities to improve their standard of living as well as those of their family members.
Dr Nasiru Argungu, the Director-General of NDE, disclosed this on Thursday during the Empowerment/Loan Disbursement to Police Officers’ Widows in Lafia.
Argungu, who was represented by Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, the agency’s Head of Department of Procurement, said the gesture was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda of helping the less privileged group in the society.
According to him, it is also in commemoration of the 2019 International Widows Day.
“These women are police officers’ widows whose husbands have protected our lives and property while alive.
“This loan is under the Micro Enterprise Enhancement Scheme (MEES); it is one of the agency’s many initiatives which is to assist and enhance the widows’ capacity to engage in income generating activities for self reliance,” he said.
Argungu also said the agency has trained thousands of unemployed Nigerians in different skills acquisition and other programmes to enable them become self-reliant and to contribute their quota to national development.
He urged the beneficiaries to ensure judicious use of the money to improve their economic status.
The Chairman of the cccasion, Alhaji Ahmed Tijjani, who is the Secretary to the Government of Nasarawa State, noted that the gesture would improve the lives of the widows and that of their family members.
Tijjani, who was represented by Mr Abubakar Ishaq, the Permanent Secretary, Office of the SSG, assured of the state government’s commitment to create an enabling environment for all NDE activities to succeed in the state.
Earlier, the Nasarawa State NDE Coordinator, Alhaji Dauda Idris-Wase, said 113 widows of police officers were to receive N10,000 each.
“However, only 74 of them have now fully completed their documentation and so will get their packages today.
“The remaining ones will also be given theirs immediately they complete the required documentation,’’ he said.
The state coordinator assured the state government of the agency’s readiness to collaborate with it in the area of vocational skills acquisition training, business training and counselling service.
“This is also to create job opportunities for youths and women of the state and Nigerians at large,’’ said Idris-Wase.
In her goodwill message, the Chairperson of the Police Officers’ Wives Association (POWA) in Nasarawa State, Mrs Chuza Abimbola Longe, thanked NDE for the gesture.
Longe, who was represented by an official of POWA, Mrs Jessica Boniface, also called on the beneficiaries to use the funds to engage in profitable business to improve their lot.
Responding of other beneficiaries, Mrs Julia Dakat, thanked the government for the gesture.
They promised to ensure judicious use of the funds for the purposes they were meant for. (NAN)
AKW/VIV/MST
Editing by Vivian Ihechu/Muhammad Suleiman Tola