Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, yesterday, distributed N550 million loan to market women, various entrepreneurial groups and cooperatives societies as a way of tackling poverty in the state.
Governor Akeredolu gave out the loans in Akure during the launch of the Apalara Micro-Credit Loan Scheme in a bid to empower various groups and associations in the state.
Akeredolu said: “The scheme is to inculcate in our people, the spirit to properly utilize credit facilities obtained from the state micro-credit agency, particularly on the need for them to appreciate the fact that funds disbursed should not be taken as their own share of the national cake.
“As a fallout of our determination to lift the entire people of Ondo State out of the current poverty in the land, a total sum of N550 million has been approved by our administration to be disbursed to various groups and individuals at a single digit interest rate.
“Of the total sum, market women are to get N357.5m (65%), while men will get N192.5 million (35%).”