Gombe Lines Up 1,100 Women, Youths For MEES
BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, GOMBE – A total of 1,100 women and youths from all the 11 Local Government Areas of Gombe state are to enjoy loans support under the Micro Enterprise Enhancement Scheme (MEES).
Flagged off by Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, who urged beneficiaries to utilize the funds for self-economic emancipation, the Scheme aims at making them self-reliant and employers of labour on a small scale.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya also said the Scheme will specially assist unemployed women and youths in the rural communities to be self-employed and productive.
He told beneficiaries at the new Banquet Hall of the Government House, Gombe that the Scheme will ultimately boost their small businesses and grow them to medium businesses that can create jobs and employment across the State.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya charged them to utilize the opportunity for the overall good of their families and the larger society, adding that women are as good as their male counterparts and should therefore not be intimidated by realities and circumstances but to strive for the best at all times.
The governor reiterated his administration’s commitment to alleviate poverty through policies that attract investors, enhance economic growth and create wealth in the State.
He said though the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has been in existence for over 20 years, it was his lobbying shuttle to the Directorate Headquarters that turned things around for Gombe State with the allocation 1,1000 slots for the MEES programme.
Governor Inuwa assured all beneficiaries, particularly the women, that the loan facility is only the beginning of many other good things to come their way, pledging that women will enjoy more dividends of democracy from his administration.
The Governor lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for giving women in the State a voice through the appointment of Hajara Salim as the nation’s Ambassador to Malaysia, even as he equally eulogised the feat attained by Hajiya Amina J. Mohammed as the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.
He said in recognition of the pivotal role women play in nation building, his administration has appointed women into key positions of authority so as to encourage them and to also enable them contribute their quota to the growth and development of the State.
“Under my watch, we have a chairman of a local government council, female councilors in each ward. We have also appointed women to man key ministries, boards and commissions and we also have a host of others holding elective and other political posts”, the Governor said
He also said when women are given the opportunity to serve, development can easily permeate through the society given their central role in family management and societal development
The Governor urged women occupying elective and other political positions in the State not to betray the confidence reposed in them, but strive and impress the larger society of the women fork.
In his remarks, Director General of the National Directorate of Employment, (NDE), represented by the State Coordinator, Hassan Mustapha said the MEES’ flag-off forms part of its mandate to eradicate poverty and empower the people, especially rural dwellers.
He also said the disbursement was facilitated by Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, who painstakingly visited the NDE’s Headquarters in Abuja to solicit assistance for rural women and youths that are into small scale businesses.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Naomi Joel Awak had applauded the Governor for his lobbying acumen which led to the disbursement exercise.
She appealed to the beneficiaries to make better use of the funds collected in order to uplift their individual living conditions and those of their families.
The cash disbursement will continues with each of the 11 Local Government Areas having 100 beneficiaries collecting N10,000 each.
