IN an effort to encourage self-reliance and less dependence on government, Abia State has decided to encourage farmers, both rural and urban, and artisans by exposing them to easy and better ways to source for funds to grow their trades. Ikpeazu To this end, the Government is partnering the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to expose them on how to have access to various soft loans available in the CBN to help them modernise and improve their various trades. To educate the farmers and artisans, the Government and CBN jointly organised an enlightenment workshop in Umuahia where various cooperative groups involved in various trades, including farmers, handicrafts and other artisans were exposed to the various finance windows available for them at the CBN and how they could obtain them in form of soft loans.
With the theme: Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme and Micro Financing, the participants included smallholder farmers, cooperative societies engaged in various aspects of farming such as yam, cassava, rice, piggery, fishery, poultry as well as palm oil producers. At the workshop which was anchored by the Abia State Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development, the Commissioner, Mr Gab Igboko explained that its aim was to expose the small and medium enterprises “to the programmes of the CBN by creating awareness for the entrepreneurs on how to access funding for their businesses.” Closing gender gap part of CBN’s Corporate Strategy — Emefiele Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who was represented by his deputy, Ude Oko Chukwu, restated the importance his government places on small and medium enterprises. Ad
