By Abubakar Hassan
Bauchi State Agency for Sustainable Microfinance has organised a One Day meeting with Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to assess the level of compliance to the guidelines for the disbursement of loans to their mentored Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLAs) across the State.
In an opening remarks before the commencement of the meeting held at the conference hall of the Agency on Wednesday 22nd May, 2024, Director of Finance and Administration of the Agency Hajiya Jummai Shu’aibu said that the meeting will deepened collaboration and feedback on tangible progress made in the implementation of VSLA’s intervention.
Mrs. Shu’aibu also said that the meeting will provide an avenue to see gaps, challenges and fashion out ways on how to overcome them.
In his keynote address while monitoring the meeting virtually, the Director General of the Agency Alhaji Nura Muhammad Danmadami (The Dan Madami of Katagum), thanked the Microfinance Institutions whom he described as champions, in their efforts at improving the economic status of the poorest of poor through the Agency’s Microfinance Institutions Building Programme for Poverty Reduction (MIFIN).
He commended the MFIs and also disclosed that better days are ahead, as the Agency is exploring foreign and local partnerships that would enhance their capacity, and possibly increase the revolving loans being granted to VSLAs to boost small scale businesses.
The DG also implored the MFIs to be diligent and ensure monitoring for effective utilization and recovery of the revolving loans so far granted to them for disbursements to interested VSLAs.
Seven (7) MFIs presented their reports on how much was disbursed, how many VSLAs benefitted from their cluster, how much was recovered, outstanding debts and challenges during implementation.
As a way forward, the MFIs agreed that the Agency should be organising quarterly review meetings, develop a standardized reporting template and continuous capacity training of MFIs.
In a goodwill message, a specialist in community engagement, Mrs. Stephanie Wealth urged the MFIs to pay close attention and observe whether the soft loans are impacting positively on the lives of the beneficiaries.
According to Elkana, that is the only way to know whether the purpose for implementing the MIFIN Program is recording success or not.
“There is the need to see tangible evidence from the beneficiaries that the soft loans are impacting positively and improving their economic status”, said Wealth.
In a closing remark, Board Chairman of the Bauchi State Agency for Sustainable Microfinance Alhaji Zakari Ibrahim Muhammad expressed his delight at the enthusiasm demonstrated by the MFIs in the implementation of MIFIN Program.
He also assured them of the Board’s commitment to seeing that the amount being disbursed as loans to beneficiaries is increased, to enable beneficiaries engage in small enterprise that could generate more profit and also help in reducing poverty among rural communities.
