Nigerian women have been urged by the federal government to stay away from loan sharks.
Instead, it advised them to establish cooperative societies so they could all access credit at the local level as a group.
Yesterday in Abuja, Adesoji Eniade, the director general of the Ministry of Youths and Sports' Citizenship Leadership and Training Center, gave the advice.
Eniade delivered a speech during a three-day workshop sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development (PAWED), which is anchored by the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC).
He said: “The government is pushing for women at the grassroots to merge into cooperative societies so that their little earnings can be aggregated, so that the women will have access to ready funds amongst themselves at the local level without having to go to banks or loan sharks.
“Women should work among themselves. They would be better organised to drive the process. This kind of participation is needed more at the grassroots level where we have a greater percentage of the women in Nigeria than those living in urban areas.
Eniade, who said the Federal Government was working with the United Nations (UN) and other agencies of development to reintroduce volunteerism.
The director general urged women to mobilise their children to participate in national cohesion for growth, stability and development.
dRPC’s Country Director, Dr. Judith-Ann Walker, who was represented by her Director Projects, Dr. Stanley Ukpai, said the workshop was designed to strengthen the capacities of women in business, trade, agriculture, mining, and industries.
The country director said it was part of the objectives of the partnership for advancing women in economic development to increase the salience of women’s economic empowerment in Nigeria.