Entrepreneurship: Borno State Govt. buys school bags, soaps produced by IDPs

BY ABDULLAHI ISAH, MAIDUGURI

The Borno state Governor Hon. Kashim Shettima has purchased all school bags, soaps and detergents produced by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Gwoza to encourage them to produce more.

Governor Shettima directed the Micro-finance Bank in the state to assist local entrepreneurs with loans for the massive production of “household and industrial products” for sale and distribution to schools and hospitals in the state.

The governor gave the directive at the Government House, Maiduguri, while flagging off the sale and distribution of household items, produced by Gwoza Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Soap Makers Association (GOSMA).

He said despite the Boko Haram insurgency, the people of Gwoza who are currently taking refuge in Maiduguri IDPs camps, have shown that they are committed and enterprising by organizing themselves to produce household products for distribution and sale.

Shettima said “the people of Gwoza I know for a long time, are not only enterprising, but committed towards using local materials and resources to overcome the challenges of high costs of manufactured and imported household goods.

“Today (Wednesday), members of GOSMA have defied the current rising costs of raw materials and finished products, by locally producing the much needed household goods such as soap, pomade and school bags at low market prices,” said Shettima.

He said that for the association’s hard work, enterprise and non-discrimination, the State Government was going to buy off 10, 000 units of the school bags and 1,000 cartons of locally made soap.

He also said that the state government was buying each school bag at the unit cost of N1, 300, adding that the state government will pay the sum of N20.3 million upfront next week to the association, before distributing the bags and soap to schools and hospitals in the state.