The Coordinator of the Office of the First Lady, Lady Helen Obareki has commended the wife of the President of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Dr Tony Elumelu for empowering Akwa Ibom women with various grants through the Renewed Hope Initiative,RHI, and the Tony Elumelu Foundation,TEF, respectively.
Speaking at the Government House Banquet Hall Uyo, venue of the RHI and TEF Women Economic Empowerment Programme, Lady Helen Obareki who is also the State Coordinator of RHI, praised Senator Tinubu for empowering 500 Akwa Ibom women involved in small and medium-scale businesses, to earn a living and contribute meaningfully to the well-being of their families.
Lady Obareki who was represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Hon. Inibehe Silas, read an address by Senator Tinubu where she explained that the programme was designed to encourage women’s entrepreneurial drive and to help them sustain their businesses.
“This Economic Empowerment Programme is about supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of our women traders and small-scale business owners who wake up each day determined to provide for their families, educate their children, and uplift their communities.’
“Let me emphasise that this is not a loan. It is a grant and a seed of renewed hope to help you recapitalise your existing businesses. It is my firm belief that when you empower a woman, you empower a household, a community, and indeed, a nation”, she said.
The First Lady praised the TEF for its N1 billion donation to RHI, which will directly benefit 18,500 women across the country. She noted that 500 women in each state and the FCT would receive the N50,000 support to strengthen their trade and improve their livelihoods.
In her welcome address, one of the facilitators of the RHI programme in the state, Mrs Emem Orok, said
the programme is aimed at equipping women, not only with resources but with confidence and self-reliance, to bring about a change in transformation that touches life, strengthens communities and enriches the state.
Goodwill messages were presented by the Wife of the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Inemesit Uwah, President of the WALGON, Mrs Akaninyene Udo, and the Wife of the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mrs IniLoiusa Ntukekpo, who all highlighted the significance of women’s empowerment in society, appreciated Senator Tinubu and TEF for their contributions that exemplify kindness and care across the nation.
They commended the level playing ground created to encourage an inclusive economy where women can be adequately empowered, urging beneficiaries to utilise the resources wisely to optimise profits.
A representative of the beneficiaries, Dinah Henry, expressed excitement over the empowerment, stating that it represents a potential for positive change in their lives and demonstrates the government’s commitment to promoting gender equality, fostering economic growth, and advancing social development.
Some of the beneficiaries left the venue excited, having received alert notifications from their banks that the N50,000 grant had made a grand entry into the designated accounts of the selected women, to boost their small-scale businesses.
The RHI Women Economic Empowerment Programme, implemented in collaboration with the Tony Elumelu Foundation, is an initiative of the wife of the President of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, targeted at supporting women entrepreneurs with recapitalisation grants of 50,000 naira each.
