The Federal Minister in-charge of Women
Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Zainab Maina, has lauded MTN Foundation, the
Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of MTN Nigeria, for empowerment of
Nigerians, especially the widows, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Hajia Maina gave this commendation at
the presentation of tools of trade to beneficiary widows, under the Foundation's
new initiative for empowering widows tagged, MTNF Widows Empowerment Scheme, in Abuja.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that the Widows Empowerment Scheme by MTN Foundation
is being managed by Growing Businesses Foundation and aimed at empowering
widows who have existing businesses, across the six geo-political zones of the
country.
Also, Hajia Maina urged that such positive
intervention be emulated by other organisations, especially in telecommunications
sector. Stressing that widows comprise a significant proportion of women,
ranging from 7 to 16 per cent of all adult women, noting that it is regrettable
that this significant section of the population is neglected in the society,
especially due to their state of widowhood and the various traditional laws and
customs which work against them, thus preventing them from gaining access to
resources that will better their lot.
"Nigeria should abide by the
United Nations' declaration during the 2013 International Widows Day which
states that 'all widows should be protected by the rights established in the
convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and
other international human rights treaties. Equal opportunity bill and violence
against persons bill presently receiving attention at the National Assembly
would greatly benefit widows, when passed into law," she said.
Equally speaking, a Director of MTN
Foundation, Mr. Dennis Okoro, said the scheme was the result of a stakeholder's
workshop held in October 2011, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of
Women Affairs and Social Development.
Pointing out that the workshop highlighted
areas of need for widows in communities and discussed ways of empowering them
to meet those needs, eventually an Expression of Interest (EoI) was declared and
five states, including Imo, Taraba, Lagos, Rivers and Sokoto, in addition to
the Federal Capital Territory, representing the six geo-political zones of the
country, were selected.
“After an analysis of the needs
assessment forms, 226 widows were selected to benefit from the scheme,” he
asserted.
Okoro further disclosed that adopting
a micro-finance model, the successful beneficiaries were trained on business
management skills and to be mentored by two microfinance institutions, namely
the Lift Above Poverty (LAPO) and Development Exchange Centre (DEC) to ensure
sustainability of the project.
Additionally,
he said, beneficiaries were later presented with tools of trade to boost their
existing business ventures as interest-free loans, explaining that the loans were
expected to be repaid over a 10 month period, with a two month moratorium.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Photo: Hajia Zainab Maina
