LAPO empowers 21,019 farmers with N1.3bn in three years

The management of Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) says it has provided financial services worth N1,246.603.700 billion to a total of 21,019 poor farmers under its agricultural credit programme between 2009 to 2011.

BusinessDay reports that the programme, which was implemented by LAPO – NGO, a subsidiary of LAPO Microfinance Bank, benefited majority women involved in cassava, yam, poultry and plantain farming.

Godwin Ehigiamusoe, managing director/CEO of LAPO, who gave the hint at the 20th LAPO Annual Development Forum in Benin City, said the organisation had 3,499 staff in its 320 branches across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as well as 955,658 clients as of last September.

The breakdown of the beneficiaries of the agricultural credit indicated that the sum of N238.091.000 million was disbursed to 6,627 farmers in 2009, N417.025.000 million to 7,150 farmers in 2010 and N591,487.700 million to 10,671 in 2011, respectively.

Ehigiamusoe said the theme of the 2013 edition – “Ending Extreme Poverty in Nigeria: Issues and Way Forward,” was geared towards stimulating critical inquiry into the nature and causes of poverty.

He added that the annual forum provided opportunity for development practitioners, clients, scholars, professionals, religious, traditional institutions and the media involved in development issues and poverty alleviation, work out a realistic design and roadmap for attracting enhanced performance of development institutions to eradicate poverty in the society.

He also disclosed that the NGO was currently implementing agriculture and food security programmes in Edo, Delta and Ondo states, saying that the major challenge of socio-economic and political transformation in developing countries as Nigeria was how to bring about the good life to the citizens.

He noted that people could only enjoy the good life if they were productive and were able to galvanise resources to create the wealth that can expand and provide for the teeming population of the poor.

Ahbulimen Richard Anao, former vice chancellor, University of Benin, presented a paper titled: “Value re-orientation: Tool for addressing poverty in Nigeria,” while Henrietta Agu, executive director, Women Action Initiative, delivered a topic on, “Role on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Poverty Reduction in Nigeria.”

In her presentation, Agu, who said the Nigerian government had initiated different programmes geared towards poverty alleviation, noted that a well managed PPP arrangement would reduce poverty and create thousands of jobs, improve everyday lives, reduce hardship of Nigerians and reduce the overhead cost of governments paying salaries.

Such money can be diverted to subsidise a number of very essential services for the masses, such as in the areas of housing, education, health care and agriculture, she said.

By: IDRIS UMAR MOMOH