NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/Lafia
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has through her Renewed Hope Initiative disbursed fifty thousand naira each to 1000 women in Nasarawa State. At an elaborate ceremony held at the Government House, Lafia on Thursday, beneficiaries were presented the cash to enable them to recapitalise their businesses.
Senator Tinubu who was represented by the Wife of the Governor of Nasarawa State, Hajia Selifat Abdullahi Sule said the gesture will be replicated across the country to help rural women stabilize their enterprises. “Senator Oluremi Tinubu has given us 50,000 to give to go each of 1000 women at the grassroots, to alleviate the suffering of the less-privileged women and to boost their economic activities in the rural areas,” the Nasarawa State First Lady said, calling on all those who benefitted to put the cash to good use by expanding their business ventures.
Various officials of the State government gave goodwill messages at the event, admonishing the recipients of the grant to make judicious use of the funds collected. Mrs. Tosin Akabe, wife of the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State while thanking the Wife of the President and the Wife of the Governor of Nasarawa State, called on the women to be prudent. “Women of Nasarawa State, we will continue to talk to you. Please, whatever opportunity comes your way, through Her Excellency, the First Lady of Nasarawa State from the Wife of the President, it is for you to hold it dearly and use it well. We are here again, giving the petty traders the sum of 50,000 naira each. We want you to use it wisely. Be able to differentiate the difference between capital and profit. Don’t use it to make food for your dear husband in the house. And when you use it, at the end of the day, it finishes and we are back to square one.”
Hajia Aisha Rufai, the Commissioner for Women Affairs noted the benevolence of the First Lady, who just recently carried out a food distribution outreach in the State. She said the state counts itself lucky to have yet another opportunity to benefit from the First Lady’s succour. “It is therefore welcoming that Her Excellency has yet brought out another programme to empower the women of Nasarawa and Nigeria in general,” she said noting the difficult but necessary decisions that the government took, which has resulted in the present difficulties in the economic space.
Other speakers like the Head of Service, Abigail Waya, Commissioner for Finance, Munira Abdullahi, Wife of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mariam Larana Magaji and Wife of the chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGO, Zainab Maifata all thanked the President’s wife for the gesture and called on the beneficiaries to use the grant as a means of contributing to the growth and development of economic activities in their localities.
The women, organisers of the events said, were selected from across the thirteen local government areas across the State.