Akwaocha fabric
The Micro-credit programme is adjudged one of the star programmes of the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s administration. Designed as an economic empowerment programme for the purpose of poverty alleviation, the Mcro-Credit programme is a success story. Since it started in 2007, Anthonia Ashiedu, the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, said over N3 billion has been invested in the programme with a total of over 111, 312 beneficiaries. The cheering news is that many of these businesses have grown from small scale to cottage industries with some of their products attracting international recognition. Some products like pepper soup and banga spices, are also being exported. It is no longer news that UNIDO is collaborating with the state government to establish a leather factory in Nigeria while some youths are being sent to Italy to upgrade their skills in shoemaking. A shoe-making village is also being established in the state. A renowned designer, Giorgio Armani has also taken keen interest in the Anioma native fabric, Akwaocha.
The state government, convince of the need to consolidate on the micro-credit scheme, also recently launched an insurance scheme to mitigate the risk on the businesses of the beneficiaries. With an initial premium payment of the sum of N6.5 million by the government for the beneficiaries to Mutual Benefit Assurance, a Lagos-based insurance company, the government says the move to introduce the insurance scheme, was to provide a lasting legacy of complementing the gains of the Delta Micro-Credit Programme.
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