Kaduna Decries Low Repayment Of N600m Business Loans
The Kaduna state’s commissioner for human service and social development, Hajiyah Hafsat Baba, has urged beneficiaries of the Kaduna State Women Empowerment Funds to promptly repay the loan of N600 million given to them.
Baba said this at a One Day Interactive Session On Women’s Economic Empowerment and Role of Faith Leaders and opponents, organized by Interfaith Media Centre, with the support of Development Research and Project Centre, (DPRC) in kaduna.
The commissioner warned that the loan given to the beneficiaries “is not a national cake” that has no repayment, because it took the state a lot of time to execute the project.
Baba explained that the Kaduna government had earmarked 1 billion Naira for women wanting to improve their small businesses without collateral or interest, and they were given a moratorium of two months to start repayment of the debt, but unfortunately, the state government is currently making a low recovery of the loan.
She stated that the state government has “already given N200m in 3 circles, meaning we have already expended like N600m and we still have 400 million left give out and it is in our budget.
“We hope that by 2023 and 2024 the circle will be completed when more women will have access to the remaining loan. We deliberately skipped 2022 own to avoid allegations of vote buying and so the next administration will continue.
“The challenge is that if you decide not to pay, there will be no room for your fellow women to access the same loan. A lot of women in these religious groups are beneficiaries. We are appealing to you to inform your members to pay back.
While acknowledging that the fund has improved the standard of women living for women in the state, Baba said “DPRC has been supportive of the Ministry of Women Affairs in Kaduna. They have been supporting the ministry of health, education and now they are about to support the ministry of planning and budget to do the M and E framework for family planning commodities kaduna is about to buy.
“We want to appreciate DPRC because their coming to support women empowerment program is very key and it came at the appropriate time.”
