As part of efforts to bolster women’s economic empowerment, Ogun State Government on Tuesday concluded plans to institutionalise the State Women Empowerment Scheme, otherwise known as Oko’wo Dapo, into Women Trust Fund to lift women in the state out of poverty.

Oko’wo Dapo is a women empowerment scheme initiated by the state government under the current administration to lift women out of poverty by providing them with financial support, training and resources to start to grow their businesses.

The state government equally complemented the Nigeria for Women Project Scale-Up (NFWP-SU), a Federal Government-led women empowerment project aimed at empowering 105,000 women beneficiaries across the four implementing Local Government Areas.

The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Motunrayo Adeleye, who disclosed this during the official flag-off of the NFWP Scale-Up phase, held at Awujale’s Palace, Ijebu-Ode, stressed the need for the institutionalisation of Oko’wo Dapo into the Women Trust Fund to enable women in the state to mitigate against the economic hardships in the country.

Adeleye explained that the institutionalisation of Oko’wo Dapo would guarantee continuity, sustainability, and transparency for women-focused initiatives, ensuring that empowerment programmes remain active and impactful beyond political cycles. She described the new policy as a strategic step to expand access to opportunities and resources for women across the state.

She noted that the earlier establishment of the state scheme was consequent upon the success recorded in the first phase of the NFWP held in the four pioneer councils, including Ijebu North-East, Odeda, Yewa North, and Ikenne, while revealing that about 3,792 Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) and 61 Livelihood Collectives/Hubs had been established across the four councils.

The commissioner stated that the hubs had evolved into thriving centres of innovation, savings, skills development, and intergenerational learning, demonstrating the transformative impact of structured, community-driven empowerment programmes for women in the state that have brought them out of poverty.

She also announced that the Scale-Up phase aims to enrol at least 25,000 women in Ijebu-Ode, while encouraging traders, artisans, entrepreneurs, professionals, and women aged 18 and over to take an active part. She hinted that the programme facilitators were carefully chosen from the council’s communities to ensure accessibility, proper guidance, and community ownership.

Adeleye, however, commended Governor Dapo Abiodun for providing the political will, and Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Okubadejo, who chaired the Multisectoral Coordination Structure (MCS), for his strategic oversight in achieving the milestones of both the first phase and the Scale-Up initiative.

She emphasised that the institutionalisation of Oko’wo Dapo, alongside the NFWP Scale-Up, establishes Ogun State as a benchmark for women-centred development initiatives nationwide. She described this move as crucial for maintaining socio-economic progress, increasing livelihood opportunities, and fostering inclusion for women across various sectors of the economy.

Speaking, Okubadejo, who also doubles as the Chief Economic Adviser and the Chairman of the Multisectoral Coordination Structure (MCS), stressed that NFWP-SU’s objective aligned with the present administration’s vision on the ISEYA mantra.

He opined that development was inevitable in a society that invests in women, stating that the current administration has continued to prioritise Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) as a key pillar for removing the structural, social, and economic barriers that limit women from participating fully in economic activities.

The commissioner noted that the scale-up phase would deepen and expand the State’s capacity to reach more women, households, and communities to grow financially, adding that the 420 Ward Facilitators would work towards the formation of 10 Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) which will comprise of Twenty-Five (25) WAG members per facilitator, resulting to the 105,000 empowered women at the four councils.

“The 105,000 women beneficiaries will be exposed to a series of training and retraining programmes on Financial Education, Business Skill, GRM and Life Skills, among others, to enhance and influence entrepreneurial skills for improving women’s contribution to the State Gross Domestic Product. We will equally educate them on how best to handle personal and business challenges of life”, Okubadejo stated.

The Senior Social Development Specialist and Task-Team Leader for the Scale-Up Project, Micheal Ilesanmi, praised the government for its efforts in the first phase of the project, noting that the World Bank designated the state as a leading state among the sixteen states for peer learning and capacity building of its respective project workforce.

Illesanmi thanked the governor and the two commissioners for providing guidance, coordination, and oversight throughout the first phase of the project, expressing optimism that the government would surpass the set target in the scale-up phase.

Earlier, the State’s Project Coordinator, Mrs Bolanle Fadairo, lauded the government for its readiness to institutionalise Oko’Owo Dapo into a State-wide Women Trust Fund.