BusinessDay 07 Nov 2017

Tuesday 07 November 2017
24 BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556
THE BIG HEART DIGEST
In association with Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Developement Agency (DEMSMA)
Difference between FG’s
GEEP and Delta State’s GEEP
Herdsmen attacks, flood:
Lifeline comes to Delta State
farmers, business men, who ran
huge losses after borrowings
MERCY ENOCH, ASABA
The federal government
has
an intervention
scheme called
GEEP. The Delta
State government also has
its own scheme called GEEP.
This has caused some confusion.
Though a state led by a
different party (the Peoples’
Democratic Party, PDP),
Delta State under the leadership
of the Governor Ifeanyi
Okowa is seen to be having
similar vision with the
government at the centre
led by the All Progressives
Congress (APC). This vision
is to empower citizens socioeconomically
and otherwise,
hence this is shown in the
GEEP, an acronym but not
same meaning.
Most people wonder why
two GEEPs exist in the state.
Deltans who are aware of the
GEEP of the federal government
and are benefitting
from it may not know that
Delta State has its own GEEP
and that some other people
are also benefitting from it.
Shimite Bello, the Executive
Secretary, Delta State
Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises Development
Agency (DEMSMA) in explaining
the difference, said
the GEEP of Delta State is the
state’s initiative and it is under
the office of the Chief Job
Creation Officer of the state.
The programme is called
Graduate Empowerment Enhancement
Programme. The
programme is for graduates;
to enable them follow their
career path.
On the other hand, the
GEEP (Graduate Employment
Enhancement Programme)
is one of the federal
In Delta State, those
who took loans for
farming and other
purposes but met
disasters and unexplainable
losses have a reason
to live after all. The
state government through
DEMSMA is encouraging
government’s programmes
under its special intervention
project and Bello is
the federal government’s
focal person in Delta State.
Other programmes in the
FG project include N-Power,
Home-Grown School Feeding
Programme (HGSFP),
and Cash Transfers (NASSP).
They are all implemented at
the state level.
“The GEEP of the federal
government is done
with the Bank of Industry
(BOI), to give out microcredit.
It is called Market
Money and it is given to
especially traders, enterprising
youths and a few
farmers though the loan
is not a farming loan. She
explained that in Market
Money, a beneficiary could
be given between N20,000
and N100,000. According to
her, most of the loans that
have been given out are
in the N50,000 category.
“In Delta State, we have
given out loans to almost
16,000 beneficiaries”, she
disclosed.
Editorial coordinator’s corner:
She explained that the
GEEP of Job Creation Office
“is a graduate empowerment
scheme. It is a Graduate Empowerment
Enhancement
Programme (GEEP). It is for
people that are specialized
in professional courses, for
instance, doctors, engineers,
lawyers and those in Information
Communication
Technology (ICT) etc.
“What is done in the
GEEP of Job Creation Office
is to create a sort of empowerment
in form of training
to enable the beneficiary
succeed in his/her chosen
career. This GEEP helps you
in the line of what you studied
if you are so inclined. So,
they look for where you can
do internships and support
you with little stipends. Under
Job Creation, there are
other programmes like Skills
Training and Entrepreneurship
Programme (STEP) and
Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs
Programme (YAGEP)
which enables the beneficiary
to acquire skills, that
is, even though he/she is
a graduate of a particular
course, he/she could look
for a different thing to do”,
she said.
Why does the state empower
professionals? “The
state empowers them because
we still need them in
the society”, she said.
Why the same acronym
GEEP? Who copied from
whom? “It came differently.
Nobody borrowed from anybody.
One person was doing
his own in Abuja and another
person was in Delta State doing
his own, and the names
came out same”
On how far the agency
had gone with the GEEP
of Job Creation Office, she
explained thus, ”We only
give out micro-credit where
need be but GEEP is the only
intervention that has not
come to us for micro-credit.
Maybe, going by the mode of
that particular intervention
at the point they are in, they
haven’t needed our own intervention.
So, we have only
intervened for YAGEP and
STEP”, she disclosed.
Economic benevolence in Delta State
IGNATIUS CHUKWU
Governor Okowa
them not to commit suicide.
The executive secretary
(Shimite Bello) said
they would investigate the
matter thoroughly and use
some insurance clauses to
help out. This seems to be
a great initiative and sign
of a brother’s keeper, a
benevolent administration
that cares for the people.
President Buhari
Delta State also has
several schemes such as
YAGEP (Youth Agricultural
Entrepreneurs Programme
); STEP (Skills Training
and Entrepreneurs Programme);
GEEP (Graduate Empowerment
and Employment
Programme); and
GEEP (Government Enterprise
and Empowerment
Programme). These are
used in helping the down
trodden and to bolster the
ability of the economically
active poor to rise and
make a living too. In years
to come, most poor people
in that state would climb
out of poverty valley and
join in active economic life.
MERCY ENOCH, ASABA
Like the biblical
injunction through
the prophet, Ezekiel,
which states that “The
bone shall rise again”, the
Delta State Micro, Small
and Medium Enterprise
Agency Development
(DEMSMA) says there is
hope through lifeline for
Deltans who might have
thought of committing
suicide over unexpected
huge losses they encountered
as a result of herdsmen
attack, flooding or
even robbery attack etc.
The agency wants them to
know that the loan granted
them by the government is
not for high blood pressure
neither is it to make
them consider suicide as
an option.
According to DEMSMA,
those who took loans and
invested them in farming
or business but encountered
loss could rise above
their predicament.
Farmers in most local
government areas of the
state had decried massive
loss as result of herdsmen
activities that affected their
farms as well as flooding
that swept off even their
fishponds. In their pathetic
cries, most of them said
they had borrowed money
and sunk it in the venture
and had to appeal for government’s
intervention to
help them bounce back to
business. The losses were
said to have had negative
effects on the health of
the loan beneficiaries who
thought the calamity that
befell them was the end of
their lives.
Speaking to The
Big Heart Digest, the
DEMSMA’s Executive
Secretary, Shimite Bello,
gave a message of hope to
the victims, saying, “We
have small portfolio that
is in our annual budget
for micro-insurance. We
do this with the Nigeria
Agricultural Insurance
Commission (NAIC). We
do some pay-outs and we
have a way we can recover
our money back.”
Continuing, she said,
“When we have those
losses, we have to investigate.
We have a team
that goes out. If we find
out that flood affected
you or that thieves really
stole your chicken; there
are many stories people
usually tell; it’s not just
about herdsmen. We are a
government and the aim
of government is not to
make profit but to ensure
development”,
Continuing, she said
“Some people even come
to us to ask for extension;
nothing happened to them
but they are not ready to
pay their loan. We make
them write a letter for the
extension. Usually, in a
bank you should be able
to get it but it is difficult
to get. With us, we can
give. We have given many
people leeway, mainly
extension. There are people
whose loans were due
since 2016 and they would
be paying us in 2018.
That’s when their hand
will reach.”
She explained that the
government gives those
concessions to ensure the
people’s hands are busy.
She added: “We didn’t
give them the loan so that
they can have high blood
pressure. We gave them
the loans so that they can
have a bit of money in case
there is poverty everywhere,
to help them move
forward.”
To them, she says they
should not commit suicide
o! It’s not that serious
because as long as there is
life there is hope. “Every
position you are in is a
temporary bus stop. It’s
not the final bus stop. Nobody
is going to kill you.
They (banks) are going to
harass you but they won’t
kill you, to ensure that
they get what it is, because
the banks go out; sometimes
we go out with the
bank, we go out with CBN
to go and get funds.”
She however said “If
you loot the funds through
Zenith Bank they would
come and ask us about their
money. So, while somebody
is asking us, we are asking
the bank, the bank would
ask beneficiaries.”
She recalled an incident
where a bank wrote
that the beneficiaries
believe that the loans they
got were political settlement.
“We like those
kinds of letters because
we can work with it. We
had to write beneficiaries
ourselves informing them
that the loans were not for
political settlement”, she
concluded.