The First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, have jointly supported the economic empowerment of 4,500 vulnerable women across the South-East with cash and business equipment to help them establish or expand small-scale enterprises.
 
Under the intervention implemented by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs) in collaboration with the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), 500 women each in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states received business equipment.
 
In Imo State, where the South-East flag-off of the programme was held in Owerri, Tinubu also gave N100,000 each to 2,500 beneficiaries, amounting to N250 million.

The Imo State Government expanded the intervention’s reach by supporting an additional 2,000 women across the state.
 
A statement by the Special Assistant on Media, Publicity and Strategic Communications, OSSAP-SDGs, Desmond Utomwen, said the equipment distributed included deep-chest freezers, maxi gas cookers with ovens, generators and industrial grinding machines.
 
The items, he said, were intended to provide beneficiaries with productive assets to establish new businesses, strengthen existing enterprises and improve household incomes.
 
While Mrs Tinubu performed the zonal flag-off in Owerri, similar presentations were held simultaneously in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, with 500 pre-selected women benefiting in each state.
 
The South-East intervention is part of the nationwide RHI Women Economic Empowerment Programme, under which OSSAP-SDGs and RHI are targeting 18,500 vulnerable women, 500 beneficiaries in each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
 
Speaking at the Owerri event, the First Lady said the intervention was designed to equip women with the means to become more economically independent and contribute more effectively to the welfare of their families and communities.
 
She said women’s economic empowerment remained critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 on Gender Equality and SDG 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth.

Tinubu urged the beneficiaries to use the cash and equipment productively, stressing that the intervention was intended to create sustainable livelihoods rather than provide temporary relief.