The Federal Government will advance a non-interest loan of N50,000 each to 1.5 million market women under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Progamme to improve their capital base and expand their businesses, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, said on Tuesday.
According to her, the N75bn market women fund, to be known as the Iyaloja Fund for poor market women traders, will be launched on October 17.
The minister, who made the announcement in Abuja during an advocacy visit to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the programme would be implemented in three phases with 500,000 persons scheduled to benefit from the first phase.
Edu said the administration of President Bola Tinubu had reiterated its commitment to fighting poverty through the eight-point agenda by announcing the Conditional Cash Transfer of N75,000 in three tranches in support of 15 million households, which translates to 62 million individuals.
She said the Federal Government also had other programmes like grants to vulnerable groups under the N-Power, which provides jobs for the unemployed in the community and several other programmes, including the Renewed Hope Shelter, where shelter would be provided for the poor and the Internally Displaced Persons and refugees.
