Business
Institution Approves 300 Saving Groups
The Federal Government/International Finance for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-assisted Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN), has approved 300 Informal Village Savings Groups (VSGs) for Akwa Ibom for the seven-year pilot programme.
The Southern Zonal Coordinator of RUFIN, Mr. Nse Inyang, made this known in an interview with the newsmen on Wednesday in Itu local council of Akwa Ibom.
Our source reports that three local government areas of Essien Udim, Itu and Onna are participating in the pilot phase of programme, out of the 31 councils.
Inyang said that the programme started last year in the state with a baseline survey on different savings groups out of which 300 were selected and documented.
He further said that the state government had shown enough commitment to the programme by paying its counterpart fund of N12 million for 2010.
“We started first with the sensitisation of the people, the programme is well accepted by the Akwa Ibom people and the awareness is high,” Inyang said.
The coordinator said that the state government had also provided the programme with furnished office as well as staff.
He added that the three benefiting local governments had also shown commitment to the programme by providing office, staff and logistics for the local government offices of RUFIN.
Inyang explained that RUFIN would not give money to any of the groups but rather build their capacity on how to make money themselves, save money and access credit facilities from micro-finance banks.
Our correspondent reports that four micro-finance banks: Prudential Cooperative Micro-finance Bank, Gufax Micro-finance Bank, Uniuyo Micro-finance Bank and Sapphire Micro-finance Bank, have been selected by RUFIN to work with the groups.
It is estimated that 28,750 families, out of which 11,500 will be women, will benefit from the pilot phase of RUFIN programme in the state.