SMEDAN supports Borno coops with N4.6m

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has supported 16 cooperative societies in Borno State with N4.6 million.

Each of the beneficiaries was given N288,750 to reactivate and improve its small scale agriculture enterprise in communities.

While presenting the cheques in Maiduguri, at the weekend, the Director-General of SMEDAN, Dikko Radda, disclosed that members of the cooperative societies had undergone six-day training and counseling on how to judiciously utilise the disbursed grants to improve livelihoods in communities.

According to DG, who was represented by Fatima Shuaibu, the Agri-business Development and Empowerment Programme (ADEP) is created to improve rural industrialisation at the grassroots.

“These token grants are to provide you with post-harvest support services with the linking of agri-business, including market finance,” she said.

Noting that similar SMEDAN training had been conducted in Kebbi, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Ondo states, Radda, urged the participants to make good use of the grants; so as to become role models in their respective communities.

The Manager of Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), Usman Balarabe, said the grants would help reinvigorate small businesses affected in the 12-year Boko Haram terrorism that destroyed people’s means of livelihood.