ABAKALIKI — Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has distributed empowerment items to 500 indigent women in Ebonyi State to support them in starting new businesses or improving existing enterprises.
The items included deep freezers, gas cookers with ovens, power generators and industrial grinding machines.
Tinubu, who was represented by the wife of the Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs Mary-Maudline Uzoamaka Nwifuru, said the empowerment programme was being implemented simultaneously in the five states of the South-East.
She said the initiative was made possible through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.
According to her, the programme was designed to empower 18,000 women nationwide, with 500 beneficiaries selected from each state and the Federal Capital Territory.
She said: “This presentation is taking place across the five states of the zone simultaneously.
“This programme has been made possible through the Office of the SSA to the President on Sustainable Development Goals.
“The initiative was first launched in Abuja for the North-Central zone in February 2025, followed by the distribution of empowerment items in the South-South zone on April 25, 2026, and the South-West zone on August 23, 2025.
“By the end of the nationwide rollout of this initiative, 18,000 women would have been empowered across the country, with 500 beneficiaries selected from each state and the FCT.”
She said the programme aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Initiative, particularly in recognising the critical role women play in nation-building.
She urged the beneficiaries to use the items judiciously to achieve the objectives of the programme.
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 aimed at expanding economic opportunities for indigent and vulnerable women across the country.
Some of the beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the President’s wife and the wife of the Ebonyi State Governor for the gesture, saying the items would enable them to become self-reliant and support their families.
They pledged to use the items judiciously, adding that the intervention came at a time when they needed support to establish sustainable means of livelihood.
