Gabriel Zock, a federal lawmaker, representing Kachia/Kagarko Federal Constituency of Kaduna state, has disbursed N100m as empowerment grant to 1000 women and youths in his constituency.
Speaking at the disbursement of the money to the beneficiaries on Saturday at the Martin Luther Agwai Town Hall, Gidan Mana, Kachia LGA, Zock said the grant was in response to the current economic situation in the country.
He added that the gesture was to show his concern about the economic hardship being faced by his people.
He urged the beneficiaries to use the money judiciously and boost their businesses so as to become self reliant and assist others.
He said in order to ensure the judicious use of the money, a micro finance bank has been engaged to disburse and monitor how it is used.
“This empowerment grant is in response to the economic situation of the country.
“We are aware of the challenges of the masers. This programme is to show that we are with the masses by lifting our constituents, to help them start up businesses and for farmers to get farm inputs, which will assist them to get a better living.
“As a way of ensuring judicious use of the fund, we have collaborated with a micro finance bank which will disburse the fund and monitor it.
“We are also confident because every beneficiary has proven to us beyond reasonable doubt what they will do with the money.
“We have also, through the micro finance bank, trained the beneficiaries on business management.
“We are going to monitor their business performance through the micro finance bank.
“Our plan is not to empower people to use the money to feed. We are empowering them to become employers of labour, so that in the nearest future, they can also empower other people. In that way, we will have a better constituency”, the lawmaker said.
According to him, 900 of the beneficiaries, mainly women and youths from across the 22 wards in the constituency were given N50,000 each, while 100 others who submitted outstanding business proposals, were given between N300,000 to N7m each to boost their businesses.
