FGN ~ 200bn Coop Societies Fund Trapped In CBN For 10 Years.

The Federal Government has said it will begin
to access the N200bn Cooperative Societies
fund, which has been trapped in the Central
Bank of Nigeria for 10 years.
Under the arrangement, which will take off
soon at the zonal, state and local government
levels, people will be able to establish small
and medium scale businesses and rely less on
the government for the provision of jobs.
Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and
Values, Dr. Sarah Jibril, said this in an interview
with Saturday PUNCH during the inauguration
of the first batch of National Youth Vanguards
on Ethics and Values and public presentation of
the Code of Conduct handbook.
Both were initiatives of the Centre for the
Promotion of Ethics and Values, a non-
governmental organiation.
In her speech at the event, the Executive
Director of CENPEV, Dr. M. J. Sokomba,
regretted “the continuous downward trend of
morality due to breakdown of ethics and
values, standards and accountability, which has
been of great concern to many Nigerians.”
According to Jibril, the government cannot be
“talking to people and preaching ethics and
values on empty pockets and empty stomachs.”
She said, “Government must be accountable to
the citizens through economic empowerment.
“The CBN has been holding the over N200bn
because we have not been organised and have
not been able to take off. The CBN is, however,
now happy that Nigerians have been able to
organise themselves for this exercise.
“The N200bn is for economic activities. It will
assist people to establish small and medium
scale businesses.
“It is multiple; it is not only for social and
economic development but also to make
people self-reliant and to be actively useful to
themselves, their families and the society at
large.
“If people are too busy, they will have no time
for crimes that will ruin their own businesses.
We really have to emulate other countries of
the world.
“Asia is moving from being a third world
country to a developed nation because the
government helps to develop the people
through economic cooperative societies that
will now make them to leverage on
independence and self-reliance.”