At least 235 unemployed persons have benefited from the dual programmes of Micro Enterprise Enhancement Scheme (MEES), and Start Your Own Business,(SYOB), organised by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Anambra state.
Blueprint learnt that 228 persons were selected under the MEES group and were empowered with a loan package of N4,560,000 at N20,000 to each person, while 7 persons under SYOB were gifted a total sum of N3,500,000 at the rate of N500,000 per person.
The Anambra state Coordinator of NDE, Mrs. Chika Ufelle, who stated this at the programme, held at Awka, noted that NDE created the loan scheme to further empower artisans and market women with soft loans to enhance their operational capacity under MEES.
According to Ufelle, the disbursement of start-up capital to unemployed graduates of tertiary institutions who were trained under the SYOB was to resettle them with the loan package as seed capital to establish or enhance their businesses and increase their wealth.
“ This was in line with the NDE mandate which among others, is to design and implement programmes to combat mass unemployment which has been leading the frontiers in decent job creation and empowerment in the country through her various well-designed programmes and schemes.
“When the micro enterprise thrives, the economy at the center would be healthy, with the prices of goods and services reducing, inflation decreasing and ultimately the negative effects of unemployment such as engagement in anti-social vices would disappear,” she stated.
In separate interviews, two beneficiaries of the loan package, Mr. Ugochukwu Ezeji and Mrs. Florence Ugorji commended the federal government for the assistance, and promised to utilise them to enhance their businesses.
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