From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri

The Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme, GEEP 2.0 has officially flagged off in Imo State.

No fewer than 4,144 beneficiaries from across the 27 council areas of the state have been given free interest loans.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, launched the National phase of the programme at the Concorde Hotel Owerri Imo State on Saturday.

The Minister said during the presentation of Cheques to peasant farmers and petty business women that the interest-free loans to beneficiaries was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowed commitment to fight poverty and its devastating impact from all angles.

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She said: “The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) is a programme designed by President Muhammadu Buhari administration to create further opportunities for the poor, vulnerable and low-income Nigerians, especially those who are involved in viable informal productive activities with limited financial requirements, but have never had access to loans from the formal financial sector.

“It is meant to give priority to the most vulnerable in our society like widows, youth, Persons With Disabilities and the Internally Displaced Persons, amongst others”.

The Minister stated that the beneficiaries were verifiable while the selection process was transparently conducted.

“These selected beneficiaries are now all banked. They have been given ATM cards and are currently being enumerated all of which are our deliberate efforts to enhance financial inclusivity of our poor in a sustainable manner”.

According to the Minister, GEEP 2.0 has three unique products: Tradermoni loan of N50,000 is targeted at uplifting the under-privileged and marginalized youths between the ages of 18 – 40 year, while MarketMoni loan also of N50,000 is for the less – privileged and marginalized women like Widows, divorcees, and other vulnerable groups. FarmerMoni loan of between N50,000 to N300,000 is designed for small scale farmers in the communities to improve their agricultural productivity and inclusion into commercial farming.