The Rotary Club of Falomo in Lagos State has empowered 30 women under the umbrella of the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) with N1.5 million credit scheme to boost their petty businesses.
This is the third in the series in the last three years as the club had in 2022 given N1 million to 20 beneficiaries to enhance their business initiatives.
The scheme is administered by the Nigeria Police Force Micro-Finance Bank on behalf of the Club. The beneficiaries are expected to pay back their N50,000 interest-free loan within a period.
Speaking during the women empowerment micro-credit scheme phase three to members of POWA at the Police Barracks Market in Falomo, Ikoyi-Lagos, the President of the Rotary Club of Falomo, Mr Ote Enaibe, said the idea behind the scheme was to empower the wives of policemen to boost their livelihood.
He said, “This is N1.5m project which will cater for 30 wives of policemen. It means that we give each beneficiary an interest-free loan of N50,000. We started this campaign two years ago, so, this is the third time that we are continuing this lofty project.
“Each time we do it, we double the beneficiaries and for this, we increased it by 150 per cent. The whole idea is to encourage each woman (police officers’ wives) the opportunity to increase in their trade and commerce to have profit to take care of their homes.
“When we carried out the NEEDS assessment, we discovered there was a need in Falomo POWA. These women are petty traders and the total turnover of their money is usually so small, but because the facility we are giving to them is revolving, it assists them to get some more money. So, assisting them with N50,000 which looks small, they can make N5,000 profit from its weekly, and in a month it translates to N20,000 which they can add to their other profits.”
A former President of the Club, Mr Tolulope Ogundipe, noted that all past beneficiaries have not defaulted on the repayment plan hence the increment to N1.5m.
“We started with N500,000 for 10 beneficiaries and increased it to N1m for 20 beneficiaries. Now we are doing N1.5m for 30. We hope to grow it to N50m in the future,” he added.
In her remark, the Market Leader of the Falomo branch of POWA, Mrs Nkechi Ezeofor, commended the Rotary Club Falomo for the gesture and promised that they would not default on the repayment plan.
Also, the Welfare Officer of POWA, Mrs Folashade Bello, said the loan would afford the women the opportunity to support the home if well managed.
Bello admonished the beneficiaries not to divert the fund to areas that would not yield profit, adding that their ability to pay back the loan early would give room for the release of further facilities by the Club.
The event had in attendance charter President, Mrs Uzoamaka Ogwazi; Service Project Director, Mr Paul Ofienbor, past presidents/assistant governors of the club Mrs Julie Adinuba, Mr Ndubuisi Okaro, and Mr Jetta Ijetta, among many others.
