The federal government, in partnership with First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), inaugurated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Women Empowerment Programme on Friday to help women nationwide.

The SDGs empowerment programme is for 18,500 women beneficiaries in all six geopolitical zones of the country.

Mrs Tinubu, the national coordinator of RHI, said during the inaugural ceremony at the State House in Abuja that the programme was made possible through the office of the senior special assistant to the president on SDGs, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire.

She said the programme, which started with 500 items for 500 beneficiaries from each state in the North-Central zone, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, and the FCT, is geared towards helping the women to expand their already existing businesses to take their families out of poverty.

“The North-Central zone is the first to benefit from this programme, and the women in the zone will today be given items such as deep-chest freezers, gas cookers with ovens, generators, and industrial grinding machines to start or grow their existing businesses.

“The items being distributed today are to equip our women with the necessary tools and resources they need to build successful businesses and to contribute to the prosperity of our great nation.

“Recognising the critical role women play in nation-building, this programme also aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, which prioritises inclusivity, economic growth, and sustainable development for all Nigerians, particularly women,” Mrs Tinubu said.

According to Mrs Tinubu, the items will be distributed by the RHI state coordinators in the North-Central, with the states in the South-South zone being the next set of beneficiaries.

The programme is expected to be taken to other geopolitical zones.

She encouraged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the available resources to start or grow their businesses, as the case may apply.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said such an empowerment programme would help boost the nation’s economy.

(NAN)