Nigerian Newsday

By Umar Anache, Niger

The Director General of the Niger State HIV/AIDS control agency, Pharmacist Baba Umar, has described the high rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the state as alarming and warned that unless urgent steps were taken to curb the spread of the disease, the government’s plan of transforming the state into one of the three leading economies in Nigeria by the year 2020 would not be realized.

Pharmacist Umar who stated this in a chat with Nigeria Newsday in his office, in Minna, the Niger state capital last week, said over 250,000 people in Niger State, representing 5.3 per cent of the population, were infected with the dreaded HIV/AIDS disease.

Niger State, he said, ranked 11th in HIV/AIDS prevalence index in the country, a situation he described as unhealthy for the development of the state.

Baba Umar, therefore, called on the media to assist in the fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge by intensifying its efforts in sensitizing people on the dangers of the disease, stressing that, "AIDS is real and is responsible for the death of several people in Nigeria".

In another development, N60 million was distributed recently as loan to 1,640 co-operative societies by the Niger State Government through micro finance institutions. The loan disbursement was facilitated by the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).

Among those that benefited were the shambo multi-purpose cooperative society which got N1 million, Paiko women mellon sellers, N300,000 and Minna central market multipurpose cooperative society, N2 million.

Speaking during the disbursement ceremony, the state governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, (Talban Minna), urged the beneficiaries of the loan to use the money judiciously.

Dr. Babangida Aliyu said the loan was aimed at uplifting the living standard of the people.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the coordinator for NAPEP, Alhaji Iliyasu Dhacko, stated that NAPEP has organised workshops on how to utilize the funds by the beneficiaries, calling on them to use the money judiciously so as to justify the effort of the present administration in the state to alleviate poverty.