By Solomon Umanah
ORUK ANAM
The Nigeria For Women Project (NFWP) in Akwa Ibom has recorded significant milestone by exceeding World Bank’s targeted 54,000 number of beneficiaries and 3,600 Women Affinity Groups (WAGs).
The head of Operations (HOP) in the State Project Coordinating Unit (SPCU), Mr Nicholas Nwomo, who disclosed this, recently, at the end of the media tour of some of the beneficiaries’ project locations in Oruk Anam and Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Areas, said, “despite the fact that we came in very late into the project, we have been able to attract 73,819 beneficiaries across the six implementing local government areas with 3,839 Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) formed, exceeding the World Bank’s targeted 54,000 beneficiaries and 3,600 Women Affinity Groups,” he maintained.
Nwomo lauded Gov Umo Eno for approving the scale up fund for the implementation of the Nigeria For Women Project’s activities in the state, assuring that, “as this commitment is done by the state government for scale up, we will eventually go to all the communities that are yet to benefit from the project in Akwa Ibom State.”
While conducting the media team round her project location at Ikot Akpan Eda Village, Oruk Anam Local Government Area, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs Uduak Udoudo, said she started her piggery business with few pigs but, through the loan obtained from her group, she was able to expand the business and diversify into poultry and vegetable farming, thereby generating more income.
Her words: “through the help of Nigeria For Women Project I was able to secure a loan in our WAG where I invested in my piggery farm, I used the second loan to establish my poultry and vegetable farms and I used the other one to drill borehole in my farm for constant supply of water,” adding, “today, my husband who was skeptical about the programme at the initial time is the one helping me to manage these businesses. So, I thank the World Bank and Akwa Ibom State Government for this life-changing programme.”
In her reaction, the Female Youth coordinator, Ekparakwa Ward 7, Oruk Anam Local Government Area, Juana Akang said, “I’m not just the female youth coordinator, I am a member of Nka Uboko WAG here and my areas of engagements are in palm oil production and palm kernel sales, and this has seriously improved my finances”.
Giving his overall assessment of NFWP’s activities in his community, the NFWP Project Champion at Ikot Ikan Village, Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area, Obong Edet Udosen, posited, “Since I was born and to this date, this is the first time that I see a well-organised setting where a blueprint or policy is implemented in such a way that it produces multiplier effect to the benefit of several families in the state. Truly, this is something remarkable.”
In her submission, Mrs Grace Umana, a beneficiary of NFWP from Ikot Akpabin Village, Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area, disclosed, “through this project we have been able to feed our children, pay their school fees when our husbands do not have enough money, we support them in one way or the other, and apart from the sale of palm oil, we also sell palm kernel derived from processing of palm oil and we make money from there, so we thank our governor and the World Bank for coming to our aid,” she remarked.
Another beneficiary, Mrs Anyanime Obot, a palm oil producer at Ikot Akpabin Village, Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area, recalled that her business profile had hitherto been very low with only two staff working with her before her involvement in the NFWP, pointing out that, “today in my business here I employ not less than 30 workers who assist me in various operations. I pay salaries to them at the end of every month, and we have made very good profit from this business,” she affirmed.
The head of Operations and Communications, aries CONCEPT, the behavioral change communication firm handling the behavioral change aspect of NFWP, Adesola Oyawoye, expressed satisfaction at the level of implementation of Nigeria For Women Project in Akwa Ibom.
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