Senator Iroegbu
5 November 2009
Abuja — Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Salamatu Suleiman, has declared that statistics have shown that women are the most affected by poverty across the country.
Suleiman, who made the remark in Abuja at the launch of NECA's Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) Abuja Chapter, said that successive Governments in the past had come up with various number of poverty alleviation programmes aimed at employment generation.
However, according to her, despite the large financial and material resources used, they are not invested specifically to meet the needs of a majority of Nigerians, which are women.
Speaking further, the Minister said that some of the problems will be addressed by the Ministry through the National Gender Machinery, which initiates various women economic programmes aimed at reducing the gaps that are socially constructed in order to bring about rapid and positive change for national development.
The programme, according to her, includes the purchase and distribution of food processing machines to rural women who are involved in agricultural activities in the 36 states of the Federation, including F.C.T.
She added that the Ministry had established a micro-credit scheme for women cooperatives in rural areas to finance their agricultural activities and assisting women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses from small to medium scale.
Also speaking at the event, the President of the Network, Mrs Adenike Ogunlesi, said that for the past three years, the network had tirelessly promoted and nurtured women entrepreneurs through creating platforms that will enhance the growth of businesses owned by women across the country.
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