…to Roll Out Another N1.8billion Business Grants to 9,000 PWDs Nationwide
Nigeria’s First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu on Friday listed the various initiatives carried out by her office through the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), saying 100,000 education materials have so far been distributed to pupils across Lagos schools, including N1 million scholarship and laptops.
The RHI is being implemented in Lagos through the Office of the State’s First Lady under the able leadership of Dr. (Mrs.) Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu.
Tinubu, who spoke at an interactive session with religious and traditional rulers held at Lagos House in Marina, pointed out that the state also got 140 scholarships through the Federal Ministry of Education Bursaries programme of 2024, adding that the State had benefited from RHI school renovation projects.
Sen. Tinubu said her Office had strengthened various groups of women to advance smart agriculture, noting that RHI had empowered 20 women in Lagos with N500,000 and training to participate in food sovereignty programmes to enhance agricultural output.
She said: “RHI Economic Empowerment programme enabled us to support 1,000 women in petty trade per state to recapitalise their existing businesses. This N50,000 extra grant might be little to people who have some level of comfort but means a lot to an average woman frying bean cakes at the street corner. From August 2024 that we launched the programme, thousands of women have benefited from this grant programme in Lagos.
“We are supporting this grant programme with distribution of equipment and tools to women whose businesses require deep freezers, industrial grinding machines, and industrial ovens. This project was launched in February 2025 and we have been taking the initiative to two regions to improve the lives of the beneficiaries. In Lagos, we are here to also provide the materials to support our women.”
Senator Tinubu also spoke about the health care activities being championed by her Office, noting that she had rolled out a mass vaccination programme to immunise children against cervical cancer.
As a burdened State, the First Lady said Lagos had been a major beneficiary of the project.
She said her Office had also strengthened advocacy to stop the spread of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Senator Tinubu added that Lagos would be getting a 10,000 year supply of sanitary pads in the Flow With Confidence Initiative to encourage and support schoolgirls in rural communities who missed school due to lack of sanitary materials to manage their monthly period.
Senator Tinubu disclosed that RHI had supported 1,709 widows and orphans of fallen ex-servicemen with a total of N422.8 million since November 2023, adding: “We will be empowering persons with disabilities (PWDs) on the World Disability Day in December. We will support 250 persons per state with N200,000 each so that they can start businesses and be self-reliant.”
In simple calculation, this will amount to N1billion, 800million to 9,000 PWDs in 36 states.
The First Lady commended the religious leaders and traditional rulers for helping to bring the Renewed Hope Initiative programmes to the grassroots, urging them to communicate the feedback to members of their respective communities.
