NAN-H-73
Traders
By Emmanuel Acha
Enugu, March 6, 2017 (NAN) Enugu State Commissioner for Information Godwin Udeuhele says that the N60 million traders empowerment scheme initiated by Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is to improve the economy of the state.

Udeuhele told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Monday that the state government saw the traders as necessary partners in the development of the state.

He said that the scheme sought to inject funds into the traders’ businesses, expand business opportunities and yield revenues in the state.

The commissioner said that the governor deemed it necessary to carry the business community along as the payment of salaries alone would not improve the state’s economy.

He said that under the scheme each beneficiary would go home with N50,000, adding that 100 traders were expected to win monthly.

“The governor introduced the traders’ empowerment scheme where traders are empowered via lottery system.

“The names of all the traders association in the state were collated as a way of giving them a sense of belonging,” he said.

Udeuhele said that though the state government paid salaries as when due, it discovered that such gesture alone might not improve our economy.

“This is because civil servants constitute just a small number of the entire population. Traders are also part of the state and they need to be carried along,” he said.

He said that the February edition that held at Ogbette Main Market produced 100 winners, adding that it would soon be the turn of traders in Enugu North and West senatorial zones.

“The number of people picked in any given association is determined by the number of registered members because it is proportionally distributed.

“The 37 registered market associations we have in the state do not have the same membership strength,” he said.

The commissioner also said that the state government  had eliminated all forms of multiple taxation in the state.

“At the inception of this administration we abolished all forms of what constitutes multiple taxation collected by the local governments.”

Udeuhele said that residents of the state were most grateful to the governor for revitalising the state printing press, Daily Star, which had been moribund for 16 years.

“No other governor visited the printing press since the creation of the state but today it goes into all the nooks and crannies of the state,” he said.

The commissioner said that the publication had been launched for vendors in the state, adding that no fewer than 200 copies were sent to each of the 17 local government areas in the state. (NAN)
EOA/MNA/OFN
Edited by Maureen Atuonwu//Felix Nwadioha