During the testimonies on the impact of DEC microcredit scheme,
these women has this to say.
• Mrs. Josephine Nnaji from Odoziaku CBO said that
prior to the inauguration and launching of DEC D&G and
other programmes in Okpaligbo, she was just a housewife
who did nothing to earn money for the upkeep of the family.
But with the inauguration of DEC programme in Okpaligbo,
she joined the Odoziaku CBO. Then they were making saving
of N2000 each and this qualified them to get a loan of N200,000
in year 2000. This loan was given to each CBO at N50,000
and she got N1,000 from the loan knowing well that the money
is never gift but loan. I looked for where to invest it
so that I can pay back. So I started selling pepper with
the money. I made little gain from the pepper and started
saving N50 each to enable me get more loan in 2001 when
I might have finished paying her year 2000 loan. In year
2001, I got a loan of N4,000 and this helped me a lot. It
is not only that I make more profit from the business I
do. I at the same time changed to selling of Ogbonno which
yield more profit than pepper. According to Josephine Nnaji,
the microcredit scheme of DEC has made me to become a trader
which I don’t do before and again transformed my life
to the point that I don’t wait for weeks for my husband
to bring the children school fees and others fees. I again
plan to receive more money as loan by saving more.
• Mrs Victoria Omameh from Ifunanya CBO stated that
she trades on Okpeyi and that when she got a loan of N1,000
in year 2001, she made profit of N3,000 after paying the
loan and it was this profit that boasted her savings from
N20-N50 which helped her to get a loan of N4,000. Mrs. Victoria
said that apart from the profit she makes, the DEC programmes
has exposed her to speak out for her right, pay her meting
dues and at the same buy some property for herself including
a wall clock.
On the impact of D&G activities, the following women
whom the Okpaligbo women has rescued from their problems through
the D&G activities in the community has his to testify.
• The D&G women in Okpaligbo made me to have
access and even make money from the sale of palm oil, kernel,
ogbonno and other items said Okpe Chinwendu. Before the
advent of DEC D&G programme in Okpaligbo, my husband
never allowed me to have access to palm oil or kernels,
even when I get ogbonno sun dry it, he will come and seize
it. This led to my having problems with him very often.
But when the D&G programme was introduced, I joined
the Ifunanya CBO. This again did not help issues because
he said that I have gone to join the group of women that
plan to rule their husbands and that this meeting cannot
exist before him. Then I resorted to attending meeting of
my CBO without his knowing. But my problem at home did not
stop. So I now informed the members of my CBO of my presicament.
They invited hin for a dialogue but he refused so they decided
to go him. The CBO members dialogued with him so that he
will know that the D&C activity is not to punish one
person or the other but to make peace. After the dialogue,
he agreed to give a trial by allowing me to have access
to ogbonno, palm oil and kernel which normally belongs to
the women. I started selling them and made profit more than
he was making then and today he now remind me of the D&C
meeting and also encourage me to continue in my utilization
of the money made out of the products because I now use
it to help in the upkeep of the family.
• If not DEC D&G programme in Okpaligbo, poverty
could have used fighting to run my family says Mrs. Anastasia
Ugwu. I used to quarrel and fight constantly with my husband
to the point that sometime we don’t talk to each other
for months. And when DEC D&G programme was inaugurated
in my community Okpaligbo I became a member. But due to
the fact that I was very much afraid of my husband who said
that the D&G porogramme is a plan I wanted to use to
fight him with other women, I could not tell my fellow women
the trouble I found myself. Again I discovered that very
little thing that concerns money and food do cause the fight.
We are depending on our farm product and the land itself
is not fertile. When this continues I reported my husband
to the women group who met with him to stop fighting with
me and at the same time allow me to participate in the D&G
activities with the other women. He refused, but without
his consent, I continued and when I got a loan of N1,000
from the group I told him and he never listened to me. I
then took the loan of N1000 and bought fertilizer which
I applied in the farm land. When the yield came he (my husband)
found out that our yield for the year 2000 tripled what
we have been getting before as a result of the fertilizer
I applied to the land. This automatically changed his countenance
towards me and after paying the loan, he was the one asking
me to work hard to get more loan.
Again, when I got four thousand naira loan, the quantity
of fertilizer bought increased, and we had to apply it on
more land. Today we harvest maize, cassava and even vegetable
from one piece of land. The fighting and quarreling has stopped
which he (my husband) has during the last Christmas bought
6 piece of wrapper cloth for me in appreciation of what DEC
D&G programme has done to his family.
