Women from Rivers East senatorial district of Rivers State have disclosed that they nearly lost their small business ventures as a result of the COVID 19 lockdown imposed on the state by the government as a measure to contain the spread of the pandemic in the state. It was the lifting of the lockdown following public outcries that saved our businesses from being destroyed.
The women made the disclosure while sharing experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown during an entrepreneurship training session organized recently by Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) with support from the embassy of the Netherlands in Nigeria in the Ulakwo Etche area of Etche local council area of Rivers State for rural community women of Rivers East Senatorial District.
The women lamented that their petty trading, which helped to lessen the economic pressures resulting from how to take care of their family needs suffered serious setbacks during the lockdown. Although goods were sold at higher prices which yielded high profit margins, thy admitted, they said their businesses were impacted negatively by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The women said it was difficult to re-stock due to restrictions on movement and market lockdown. Cost of restocking became very high just as some of their commodities were either seized or destroyed by agents of the state. They had to look for capital to start afresh when the lockdown was eased as their goods and capital were almost gone.
Experts and resource persons thus pointed to these areas as where the governments and intervention agencies could pay some attention in the form of capital infusion and post-lockdown palliatives.
Declaring the training open, Styvn Obodoekwe, director of programmes at CEHRD pointed out that the training was aimed at equipping the participants with basic skills necessary to make them successful entrepreneurs. They were urged to open businesses of their choice to empower themselves economically in order to stop depending on their husbands.
It was noted that dependence of women on men may be part of the reasons for the increased violence against women recorded during the Covid-19 lockdowns as many families were put under immense economic pressures. Such pressures were believed to have led to tension and anger. Facilitating the training, Joseph Oshi (PHD), an entrepreneurship theorist and university don noted that in addition to making wealth for the entrepreneur, entrepreneurship takes care of key issues of self-reliance, self-promotion, improvement of livelihood and improving community standards, among others.
