Not less than 2,000 Niger Delta women have completed account opening formalities in readiness to receive cash grants from Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL).
The initiative, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), is part of PINL’s Women Employment and Empowerment Scheme being delivered to its pipeline host communities of the Eastern Corridor of the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), and done in partnership with Premium Trust Bank.
Drawn from the 215 host communities on the TNP covering Rivers, Bayelsa, Abia and Imo States, the women would be given business support to boost their small scale businesses.
Speaking during the data capturing exercise for Rivers, Abia and Imo beneficiaries, in PortHarcourt, over the weekend, the General Manager, Community Relations and Stakeholdsrs Engagement, PINL, Dr Akpos Mezeh, said the initiative is aimed at appreciating the women for their support in combating pipeline vandalism in their communities.
He explained that four women from each of the 215 communities would benefit from the business support initiative including mentorship to sustain their businesses, adding that it would run alongside the skills training programme and scholarship for youths.
“Today is a day set aside by the company to say thank you to the women. The women play a critical role in the fight against pipeline vandalism because our operations are intelligence driven. The women have supported us in different ways by providing viable information with which we use to wage this war against crude theft.
“The women are from the host communities where we have our operations. From every community we are giving business support grants to four women  totaling  215 communities. This is to complement the scholarship program and the skill acquisition program that is going on simultaneously,” he said.
Mezeh said the grant, which would be paid directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries in December, would be an annual CSR revealing that professionals have already been engaged to strictly monitor the progress of beneficiaries including giving them financial literacy training.
According to him, more women from the 215 communities would also benefit from the programme, which he said has been planned to run annually.
He urged beneficiaries to judiciously manage the funds to boost their various businesses and improve their standard of living.
He further restated PINL’s commitment to positively impact the host communities of its operations thereby encouraging them to stay away from oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
A beneficiary, Francisca Nkechi Okanma from Okohia in Abia State, expressed hopes that the empowerment would help them in boosting their businesses and assisting their families.
“We have submitted our BVN, account number. Last month we were here for NIN. We came back for verification to be sure that the details we submitted are ours. So we have submitted everything and we’re waiting for them to empower us so that we can make use of the money and help our husbands to train our children, “ she said.
On her part,Bridget Nnadiwe from Mmabele Autonomous Community Ahoada East, Rivers State, said the grant would aid the expansion of her trade.
“If they give me the money, I’ll leave my kiosk and rent a shop and buy more goods,” she said.
Esther Step, from Norkpo Community, in Tai LGA of Rivers State, lauded PINL for the scheme saying “the information about the empowerment was relayed to us through our community chief, and four of us were selected by the community to benefit from the scheme”.

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