Over 3,800 Anambra State residents have been empowered with interest-free loans to assist them in their small-scale businesses.
The former House of Representatives member, who represented Idemili North and South Federal Constituency in Anambra State, Chief Ifeanyi Ibezi, made this empowerment programme
A breakdown of this figure indicates that over 2,000 of them would benefit from the interest-free loans, while about 1,800 of them had their medical bills settled by the lawmaker.
This event was part of the activities marking the 50th birthday anniversary of Chief Ibezi, which was climaxed at his country home in Abatete in Idemili North Local Government Area of the state.
Earlier, Ibezi and his family members visited two hospitals where children delivered within the week of his birthday had their maternity bills settled, and those who came for medical checkups and treatment of various illnesses also had their bills offset.
Speaking at the occasion, Ibezi stated that the Oganiru Women Empowerment Initiative Worldwide and the Idemili Development Initiative have a database where beneficiaries have been registered, from which they can access the interest-free loans.
“It is no longer the usual practice of people coming from wherever to benefit from the loan scheme, and we already have their names in our database and our system”
“The loans are interest-free loans, which have been signed off by me, so they do not need to pay interest, and after some period of time, they will pay back the capital and use what they have to turn over their respective businesses”
Ibezi also explained that the loans would be accessed directly by the beneficiaries and not go through proxies or coordinators.
He recalled that other empowerments include the settlement of the medical bills of children born within the week of his birthday.
“My wife and I visited two medical facilities, one for the Catholic church and the one at Iyienu for the Anglican Church, and we wrote about the medical bills of people there, including free medical checkups”
“For children born within the week of my birthday, we settled their maternity bills and this not a show of wealth but to put smiles on the faces of people around us and that is the essence of celebrating my birthday ” he noted.
