The Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has launched the distribution of business equipment to 2,500 women across the five states of the Southeast as part of the Renewed Hope Initiative Economic Empowerment Programme.
The flag-off, which was held simultaneously in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states, saw 500 women in each state receive business items, including deep freezers, gas cookers with ovens, generators and industrial grinding machines.
Speaking during the flag-off ceremony in Umuahia, Senator Tinubu said the initiative was designed to help vulnerable women start new businesses, strengthen existing ones and achieve economic independence.
Represented by the Wife of the Abia State Governor, Mrs. Priscilla Otti, the First Lady said the nationwide programme, implemented through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, targets 18,500 women across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
Senator Tinubu said the programme recognises the critical role women play in nation-building and aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which prioritises inclusivity, economic growth and sustainable development, particularly the economic empowerment of women.
She urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the equipment for productive business purposes.
In her address, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Princess Orelope-Adefulire, said that 9,500 women had already benefited from the programme across the North-Central, South-South and South-West geopolitical zones.
She explained that the beneficiaries were largely drawn from vulnerable groups, including widows, wives of fallen heroes and indigent women.
Orelope-Adefulire charged the beneficiaries to put the items to productive use, grow their businesses and create sustainable sources of income.
Meanwhile, the Abia State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Dr. Maureen Aghukwa, commended Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Mrs. Priscilla Otti for prioritising women’s empowerment and ensuring that the programme reached beneficiaries at the grassroots.
