From: Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has advised women in the state to become more active players in the economic activities of the state.
The Governor gave the advice while declaring open the second Women Economic Summit organized by his wife, Dr. Eunice Ortom with the theme “Women as Drivers of Economic Growth” held at the J S Tarka Foundation in Makurdi Thursday.
“Women should be active players in order to continue to be valuable drivers of our economic development. It is important to remind women and indeed all Benue people to form and operate cooperative bodies that will help them to access funds, training support and other incentives,” he said.
Governor Ortom who posited that the open grazing prohibition law became necessary in order to avert the massive killings and monumental loss of property that characterized the incessant crises between farmers and herdsmen maintained that he was happy that 11 states in the country had indicated interest to key into it and had received copies of the law to help them enact similar legislation.
In her speech, wife of the Governor who initiated the summit under the auspices of her outfit, the Eunice Sring of Life Foundation, ESLF, explained that its major objective was to appreciate and expose the prowess of Benue women for economic value.
She explained further that 552 participants from each of the 276 council wards of the state had been selected to participate in the summit in addition to delegates from six other states.
Mrs Ortom recalled that more than 600 participants were trained and graduated in various skills in agriculture and other trades during the first summit last year after which N100 million was procured with the support of the state government and was being disbursed.