‘Why northerners don’t benefit from loans, grants’

Failure to register businesses with relevant government agencies has been identified as one of the reasons most businesses and individuals in the North do not benefit from loans and grants from the federal government as well as other international donor agencies.  The Deputy Director, Head of Kano office of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Musa […]

Failure to register businesses with relevant government agencies has been identified as one of the reasons most businesses and individuals in the North do not benefit from loans and grants from the federal government as well as other international donor agencies.

 The Deputy Director, Head of Kano office of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Musa Kabiru Jemaku, disclosed this on Thursday when he received a coalition of women’s economic empowerment programme in Kano.

 The coalition, Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development (PAWED), was in the commission’s office for an advocacy visit on ways of collaboration with them.

 According to Jemaku, “Government gives grants and loans, but they come with a lot of requirements, part of which is being registered with government agencies such as ours.

 “In Kano here, for instance, there are businesses virtually everywhere. Unfortunately, very few are registered with us, which makes it very difficult for them to benefit from some of these interventions even if they need them.

 “So, as a coalition of NGOs, you have a lot to do in changing people’s mindsets. We at CAC can come in in the area of advocacy and sensitisation,” Jemaku added.

 He lauded the women’s initiative and promised to give them all the necessary support.

 Speaking earlier on behalf of the coalition, PAWED Team Lead, Aisha Suleiman Baffa, said the project is anchored by the Development Research and Project Centre (dRPC) with the aim of making Kano women economically independent.

 She said the two-year project, which started in 2021, is aimed at coordinating women so they are able to access government interventions.

Aisha explained that they were in the CAC office to seek their collaboration on ways of formalizing their businesses as most of them operated informally.