NAOC Disburses N20.8m To Farmers’ Co-operatives

The Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), has presented cheques
worth N20.8 million to 40 co-operative societies of the Green River Project
(GRP) 2012 Micro Credit schemes across its operational land areas of Imo,
Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states.

Presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries last week in
Port Harcourt, the district general manager, Giovanni Salvini, who was
represented by the Public Relations Communication and Government Liaison
Manager, Prince Nwachuku Obi explained that the presentation of the amount to
the beneficiaries was an indication of the commitment of NAOC to boosting
agricultural productivity in the area and that it would soon be extended to the
swampy areas.

He recalled that in 2001, NAOC – GRP entered into a
partnership agreement with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to provide micro
credit services to Agip’s host farmers co-operative soecities with a view to
removing the bottlenecks associated with sourcing funds from commercial banks by
farmers as well as boosting their agricultural productivity and improving their
standard of living.

According to him, in order to meet the needs of the
co-operative societies, NAOC – Green River project has engaged the services of
a non-Governmental Organisation known as Community Development Foundation (CDF)
to drive the process of micro credit delivery to the host co-operative
societies in the land areas to monitor and recover the loans.

While urging the 2012 beneficiaries to make judicious use of
the funds provided he revealed that Agip has over the years disbursed more than
N100 million to 95 co-operative societies across the operational areas.

The Managing Director of CDF, Akin Akintola noted that the
process of selecting the group was based on their performance, explaining that
their activities would be monitored to ensure that the fund was used
judiciously to enable them repay with ease.

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Chief T.T. Ibieneye
thanked Agip for the capacity building and empowerment even as Mrs Justina
Aaron also commended the company for the gesture, adding that the development
has increased their productivity as well as wealth creation.

In a vote of thanks, the Assistant Manager, GRP, Dan
Onyeaghala disclosed that they recorded 97.7 per cent repayment last year,
stressing that “it is a simple interest” and that they are discussing with CDF
on how well the co-operative would benefit more next year. He thanked past
beneficiaries who have paid up their loans.