Cooperative Societies To Benefit From N200bn Micro Funds

Cooperative societies established under the Ethics and Value Office in the Presidency will tap into the N220 billion Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) micro-finance.

The fund, launched by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of CBN, for Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) was set up to develop Micro-finance and small scale businesses in the country.

The Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Value, Mrs Sarah Jibril, announced this at the inauguration of the Environmental Ethics and Safety Corps in Abuja last Tuesday.

Jibril said that the cooperative societies would be expected to use the funds to develop community farms to boost food production.

She called on women to be modest in their dressing in order to promote good cultural values, and urged families to take the lead in the campaign against immodest dressing.

“It is unethical to dress in immodestly; it is inhuman, cultural and environmental pollution to dress exposing parts of your body; in fact you are polluting our social site,’’ she said.

Jibril said that her office was collaborating with Education Research Council to develop civil and ethics curriculum in schools in order to promote good ethical values.

She also canvassed for the employment of ethical officers in the Federal Ministry of Environment, noting that we just celebrated the National Ethics Day and we are moving on to celebrate it at the international level.

“We have established laboratories in the six geo-political zones to disseminate information for people to see the impact of good values and ethics,’’ she said.

The aide urged new members of Environmental Ethics and Safety Corps to campaign against social vices, adding that the highest percentage of crime being committed in the country today was financial crime.

In his remark, Permanent Secretary, Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Alhaji Goni Sheikh, described the involvement of youth in environmental issues as a ‘welcome development’.

Represented by Mr Shaibu Yakasai, Director, Pollution Control, Sheikh said that the objectives of Vision 20:2020 would be difficult to achieve without environmental sustainability.

Sheikh said that his office had been intervening in some parts of the country to address erosion, flooding and other ecological problems.

“We need to reach the people in rural areas and we are ready to partner with you to create friendly environment,’’ he said.