TheCable

After three years of closing down the Maimalari Cantonment Mammy Market in Maiduguri due to insurgency, the Nigerian army announced its re-opening on Saturday.

Victor Ezugwu, general officer commanding (GOC), 7 division of the Nigerian army, Maiduguri, made the announcement at the launch of the chief of army staff (COAS) investment initiatives for barracks community in Maiduguri.

Ezugwu said re-opening the market was to alleviate the sufferings of the barracks community which had been negatively affected by the long closure.

He also distributed N1 million soft loans to 10 women corporative groups, as well as 10 tricycles to 10 barrack youths.

Ezugwu said the women were expected to use the money as start-up capital for their own businesses while the tricycles would provide jobs for the unemployed beneficiaries.

“The launch is all about trying to conform to the COAS, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai’s intention for formulating COAS Investment Initiative for Barracks Community,” he said.

“The objective is to create employment opportunities for our women and children that are up to employment age but have no jobs for them to have means of livelihood to support the husbands and fathers to make a living.

“Today, 10 cooperative women groups benefited from our soft loans of N100, 000 each, totalling N1 million.”

He said the second batch of the women group would benefit from the loan in May, revealing that the army was planning to make it a monthly affair in order to empower all the women in the barracks.

He directed all GOCs to launch the initiatives in all their barracks across the nation.

He said the army had established a ranch in Maimalari barracks, asking all women who were interested in cattle or animal rearing to make use of the facility.

“That ranch is for us to rear our animals and feed our soldiers; barracks women interested in rearing animals for empowerment are also free to use the ranch,” he said.

He also said that the army was working on a plan to establish its own abattoir in Maiduguri, noting that “the whole essence is for the barrack community which had suffered throughout the insurgency to begin to smile”.