Gross illiteracy, impediment to widows’ empowerment in Ebonyi – Umahi’s aide

Widespread illiteracy among beneficiaries has been identified as great impediment to the full and prompt implementation of Ebonyi State Government’s empowerment scheme for widows in the State.
This revelation was made on Tuesday by the Senior Special Adviser to Governor David Umahi on Religious and Welfare Matters, Rev. Father Abraham Nwali, at the Government House, Abakaliki, while responding to questions from journalists during a joint briefing on the outcome of State Executive Council Meeting.
The Governor’s aide, who lamented that some of the nominees for the empowerment have not been able to access their fund, attributed the development to their inability to successfully conclude the minimal required Bank processes.
According to Nwali, some of the widows registered with multiple names in different Banks, thereby facing the problem of Bank Verification Number, while others still opened Bank Accounts with different names other than the name by which they were nominated for the programme, thus making it difficult for them to access the fund in the bank.
He also observed that there were those who had never had any Bank Account in their lives and as such were finding it difficult to consistently abide by the requirements.
Nwali said: “The issue of the widows is a special area of concern and I feel as bad as you do.
“Most of the cases we are having now is very pathetic.
“And what is the problem?
“Some of them have multiple names and so they opened an account with one name and opened another with a different name and BVN for one must be taken.
“And Central Bank has a regulation that if you have more than one account name for your accounts.
“The second one is called fraudulent and it can no longer operate.
“So most of the widows, innocently, out of Ebonyi academic backwardness opened account with two names and they are required to do certain things: one, swear an affidavit defending the BVN number and two, they have to make a National Newspaper Publication and three, they have to cut the National Newspaper publication, and with the Affidavit, apply to the Central Bank and wait 15 days, etc.”
The SSA to the Governor, who noted that the rigours involved in the whole process accounted for the reason why some of the funds were still hanging, assured that such widows would immediately receive their monies as soon as the Central Bank of Nigeria concludes with them.
He, however, explained that out of the 4,000 widows earmarked for the current phase of the empowerment, over 3,970 have received theirs with only about 30 having issues.
Nwali added that the entire fund has been deposited into Ebonyi State Welfare Account which neither the Governor nor any other Government functionary can access.
Reverend Father Nwali further described as great concern the fact that some Ebonyians, out of sheer illiteracy, do not even know their names, stressing: “The central problem (impeding the scheme) is gross mass illiteracy.
“We are requesting the House of Assembly and His Excellency to pass a Bill that everybody wishing to be part of public engagement must first of all register for adult education in any of our basic units.
“At least, we should know how to write our names, to know how to defend our names.”
Recall that apart from widows that are placed on monthly stipend from N20,000 and above, Governor Umahi, under his welfare scheme for the indigents, introduced an empowerment scheme whereby 4,000 widows nominated from across all the wards in the State were to receive a N100,000 each to enable them set up a mini businesses for their daily upkeep.
This is in addition to several Millions of Naira released by the Governor on quarterly basis to churches in the State to care for their indigent members.
All these were executed through the office of the SSA on Religious and Welfare Matters in conjunction with the Family Succour and Upliftment Foundation, a pet project of the wife of the Governor, Rachael Umahi.