It was a successful outing for the ongoing Abuja Enterprise Agency's Financial Literacy and Inclusion Awareness Campaign in Kuje Area Council on Wednesday as numerous residents visited the tents mounted by AEA in frantic search for solutions and answers that best suited their business needs.
The Sensitization Team also traversed the length and breadth of the Area Council during the period.
A Statement signed by AEA's Team Lead, Corporate Communications, Mr. Emmanuel Tortiv, said information bothering on Tax Education, Financial Planning, Managing Risks, Financial Fraud and Scams as well as Special Counselling Sessions were dished out by facilitators to a wide section of the public.
Mr. Tortiv quoted the Ag MD/CEO, Mr. Chudi Ugwuada-Ezirigwe as describing the attendance of the Sensitization by Kuje residents as successful. The MD called on Staff to redouble their efforts in reaching the thousands of business operators and residents of the Area Council who keep requesting for areas of knowledge to expand their businesses.
Represented by the Desk Officer in charge of the Programme at AEA, Mrs. Chidinma Nduka, the MD informed Newsmen that Kuje was a huge embodiment of prospects for the success of business operators in the Area Council.
He further noted the positive reaction of residents of the Area Council to the initiative from the FCT Administration through the Agency.
He also noted that the Campaign will go a long way in driving their businesses towards sustainability.
He expressed satisfaction with the participation and enthusiasm exhibited by the residents of the Area Council.
He acknowledged that access to business advisory services and finance remains the focal point and most patronised of all the enquiries made by the public in all the Area Councils visited so far. He added that the inadequate or outright lack of information was another critical area people wanted to know in their enquiries.
Also speaking on the outcome of the Sensitization in Kuje, the Head, Partnerships and Strategy, Mal. Usman Isiaka Usman, described the response by Kuje residents as satisfactory noting that the surge of business operators/SMEs was remarkable.
Mal. Usman said "we had a surge of people coming to understand how Financial Literacy can be used to turn businesses around. We have a lot of interested people that have even registered with the Agency because of the quality of orientation that we have given to them."
In their separate comments, Adailo Yakubu and Nzeka Chukuma, both Fashion Designer and Furniture Maker in Kuje, expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, for providing infrastructures to their Councils as well as granting them access to knowledge-based activities like the Financial Literacy Programme.
"I will visit the AEA for more Financial Education because of what I got from the market today. I came here today to buy ordinary pepper and tomatoes, but I got more knowledge unexpectedly. I must visit them for more knowledge." Reiterated 32 year old Adailo.
Also speaking, Mr. Nzeka Chukwuma said until he received the Financial Literacy Campaigns from AEA, he had always assumed that most interventions from Government Agencies were a scam. The excited Fashion Dealer said "henceforth I will ensure I register my business and approach relevant government agencies to seek for the needed information on how to expand my business."