RIMA Diburses N388m To 887 Beneficiaries

The Rivers State Micro-Finance Agency (RIMA), has so far disbursed N388 million to 887 beneficiaries across the 23 local government areas of the state through the wholesale micro-credit model it adopted.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of RIMA, Mr Innocent Iyalla Harry in a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday, said following the successful implementation of its pilot scheme, the agency had concluded plans to expand its channels of delivery of the loans to more beneficiaries in the state.

Out of the 887 beneficiaries of RIMA loan, Mr Harry said 350 were males while the rest 536 were females.

According to him, the next phase of RIMA loan was billed to commence by January 2012, even as the agency had deployed its team to the rural areas of the LGAs to identify the groups within the communities, sensitise them and prepare those that would meet its requirements for disbursement and monitoring of beneficiaries.

He also hinted that RIMA was developing a new product which he called “micro lease” expected to complement the on-going micro-credit. When fully operational, he explained that beneficiaries would be able to purchase and own household and other micro items on a lease basis at an affordable and sustainable cost.