December 16, (THEWILL) – It was a moment filled with mixed reactions of anticipation and jubilation, at the Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu square, where thousands of Imo citizens from the 4,758 polling units across the state, as the N30,000 financial empowerment was received by some of the beneficiaries, with others hopefully awaiting theirs.
Governor Hope Uzodinma, while addressing the recipients at the venue of the event, recalled that due to the economic hardship caused by Covid-19, flooding, unknown gunmen, banditry, among other things, caused so many to lose their businesses and means of livelihood, which made the federal government, in collaboration with the World Bank, create a programme called Nigeria-Cares, NG-Cares, which Imo keyed into to empower people.
Uzodinma thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the World Bank for supporting the state government in the partnership to empower over 25,000 Imo citizens.
“Today we have selected five persons from every polling unit in Imo state, totalling over twenty five thousand human beings, and this is the first batch to be empowered today, and before you leave this place today you must see your alert on your phone, and this alert of N30,000 will be every month.”
Uzodinma further informed that another batch of 27,000 people will be receiving their own credit alert next week, as he pointed out that there are about 120,000 people who will be empowered by the government every month going forward.
The Governor urged them to deploy the money into meaningful ventures, and to take care of their families, not in drug addiction or alcoholism.
He assured them that it was a grant, not loan, therefore, no need to refund the money, appealing to them to assist the government in developing their communities and maintaining peace and order.
Some of the beneficiaries who received their credit alert expressed joy and thanked Governor Uzodinma, while those yet to receive theirs expressed optimism.
