The Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has empowered 500 indigent women in Ebonyi State with business equipment under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
The empowerment programme is designed to promote self-reliance, increase household incomes and reduce the impact of economic hardship on vulnerable women across Nigeria.
The items distributed to the beneficiaries include deep freezers, gas cookers with ovens, power generators and industrial grinding machines. The equipment is expected to help beneficiaries establish new businesses or expand existing enterprises.
The Wife of the Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs Mary-Maudline Nwifuru, presented the items on behalf of the First Lady during the distribution exercise in Ebonyi State.
Nwifuru said the programme was being implemented simultaneously across Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo states.
She said the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was coordinating the initiative.
According to her, the nationwide programme will empower 18,000 women, with 500 beneficiaries selected from each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Nwifuru said the initiative formed part of the Renewed Hope Initiative of President Bola Tinubu and reflected the Federal Government’s recognition of women’s contribution to household welfare, economic development and nation-building.
She urged the beneficiaries to use the empowerment items responsibly and ensure that the equipment remained dedicated to the businesses for which they were provided.
The representative of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Dr Ify Ukaegbu, also urged the beneficiaries not to sell the items.
Ukaegbu said the intervention was designed to expand economic opportunities for indigent and vulnerable women and improve their capacity to become financially independent.
She said the programme would also enable beneficiaries to contribute more effectively to their households and communities.
The distribution in Ebonyi is part of the broader federal government women empowerment programme aimed at providing productive assets to vulnerable women and supporting small-scale businesses across Nigeria.
The initiative comes as households and small businesses continue to face pressure from rising living costs, making access to productive equipment an important part of efforts to strengthen livelihoods.
