Katsina State Government has released ₦8.5 billion counterpart fund for the scale-up of the Nigeria for Women Programme -NFWP- where 800,000 women across the 34 Local Government Areas of the state are expected to benefit.
The National Coordinator of the Programme, Mr Michael Elesanmi, disclosed this during a press briefing ahead of the official launch of the programme in Katsina by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
He explained that the World Bank had initially planned to support a pilot phase of the programme in selected Local Government Areas of Katsina State, but the state government opted to expand the intervention to all the 34 LGAs.
The World Bank, he added, is providing an additional 15 million dollars to support the implementation of the programme.
The National Coordinator explained that the programme places emphasis on financial literacy and planning, savings mobilisation, partnerships with financial service providers and market actors, as well as support for productive livelihood activities.
Mr Elesanmi noted that women play a significant role in Nigeria’s economy, particularly in agriculture, trading, processing and small-scale businesses, but continue to face challenges relating to access to finance, markets, productive assets, skills and economic networks.
He further disclosed that Katsina State Government had decided to complement the programme with additional interventions, including linking beneficiaries to health insurance and other support services.
He said the complementary interventions were aimed at providing women with comprehensive support to improve both their economic and social wellbeing.
Also speaking, Katsina State Coordinator of the Nigeria for Women Programme, Hajiya Aisha Mohammed Yusuf, said more than 3,000 Women Affinity Groups had so far been registered under the programme.
She said the groups, comprising about 34,000 members, had collectively saved more than ₦600 million in their bank accounts in compliance with the conditions and guidelines of the programme.
The briefing was coordinated by Katsina State Commissioner for Information, Dr Bala Salisu Zango and also attended by the Director-General, Media to Katsina State Governor, Mallam Maiwada Danmalam among other officials and stakeholders.
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