Senator to establish co-operative society for empowerment

The Senator representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District, Chief (Mrs) Helen Esuene, said she has concluded plans to set up an economic empowerment scheme to reduce poverty in the area.Esuene, who unveiled her plans while speaking with newsmen in Eket recently, said that she had registered a cooperative society, which she would use to drive her passion of empowering the citizens of her area.She explained that she would run the cooperative scheme as a business, which would require the beneficiaries to contribute 50 per cent of the equity into it, adding that the contributors would share in the same proportion.'I will take responsibility for an additional share for every one who will purchase a certain limit, for individuals and organisations and will also provide accommodation, staff wages and warehouse for the society.'All the logistics have been put in place and as soon as we take off, I will bring my expertise as a successful entrepreneur in ensuring that the venture is self-sustaining, even when I leave the Senate,' she said.She noted thatherconstituency, made up of 12 local government areas was the largest in the state, saying: 'it is indeed, a challenge to undertake a poverty alleviation scheme for such a large number of impoverished people.'' Esuene explained that the capital base of the cooperative outfitwoulddepend onthe level of participation of potential investors in the scheme, stating that consultations were already on at various councils to identify their priorities.'We shall use the result of the consultations to choose programmes, projects and ventures, which the cooperative can invest in and which we can also attract government and organisations to do,' she stated.The former Minister of Environment regretted the absence of oil spill compensation guidelines in the country, saying that it had adversely affected the oil communities and left them at the mercy of oil firms. She, however, declared that she would fast-track the process of formulating a legislation to protect the economic interest of coastal communities that were often victims of oil spills.
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