First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on Thursday, launched a recapitalization grant aimed at supporting 37,000 women petty traders across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
At the flag-off ceremony in Abuja, Tinubu announced that 1,000 women from each state and the FCT will each receive N50,000, totaling N1.85 billion. This initiative is part of her Renewed Hope Initiative’s Economic Empowerment Programme.
Represented by Mrs. Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, the FCT Mandate Secretary for Women Affairs, Tinubu noted that the event was held simultaneously across all 36 states.
She highlighted the government’s awareness of the challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and emphasized that these grants are intended to help women overcome these obstacles, create jobs, and expand their businesses.
“Today, through the Renewed Hope Initiative Economic Empowerment Programme, we are providing 1,000 pre-selected women petty traders per state with a grant of N50,000 each to recapitalize and contribute to the growth of the economy.
“A total of N1.85bn will be disbursed to 37,000 women petty traders across the nation.
“The grants provided today are to assist our women and petty traders in overcoming some of their business challenges, expanding their businesses, and creating more jobs, and contributing more robustly to our economy.”
Tinubu stressed that economic empowerment for women remained a core objective of the RHI, noting that her pet project has continued to support the reforms under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
Speaking earlier, the FCT Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, in her goodwill message, described the initiative as a significant effort by the First Lady, which would provide support for women traders to expand their businesses and improve their livelihoods and wellbeing.
Represented by her Special Adviser on Social Investments, Maijidda Musa, the Minister said investments in human capital through the Initiative in areas such as Education, Health, Social Investment, and Agriculture have been invaluable while commending the First Lady for making the vision a reality.
