Oluremi Tinubu unveils N110m per district for elderly and disabled Nigerians

The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has unveiled an empowerment package of N110m for each participating senatorial district, aimed at elderly Nigerians and persons with disabilities.

She announced it on Thursday at a stakeholders' meeting in Abuja, according to a statement signed by her media aide, Busola Kukoyi. The meeting brought together Senate President Godswill Akpabio, APC National Chairman Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, serving senators, APC senatorial candidates and members of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) governing board.

The package is split into two programmes of N55m each. Under the RHI Economic Empowerment Programme for Persons with Disabilities, 250 people per senatorial district are to get N200,000 each. The Elderly Support Scheme follows the same pattern: 250 elderly beneficiaries getting N200,000 each.

The First Lady said the money would be handled by APC senatorial candidates, a decision she said followed consultations with political leaders on how best to reach vulnerable people. She argued that the candidates know their constituencies well and can identify those who need help.

But she was clear that party card should not be the ticket to the money. "We don't say give it only to party members, but give it to your voters," she told the candidates. She added that "the vulnerable in society are the people we are supposed to care for."

She said she had weighed using state coordinators and traditional rulers before settling on the senatorial district model. The scheme for persons with disabilities is not new, she said, and the elderly support is now in its fourth edition.

Why it matters

For an elderly trader or a person living with disability in a rural ward, N200,000 can cover months of food, medicine or rent. The concern for many Nigerians will be whether the money truly reaches them, given that candidates contesting elections will be the ones handing it out.

Akpabio said President Bola Tinubu had approved the arrangement and urged the candidates to treat it as a public trust. He noted that the RHI has supported vulnerable households, women and displaced communities over the past three years.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas also praised the First Lady, saying the RHI's monthly food programme has reached 31 states. Yilwatda, the APC chairman, asked candidates to work with party structures and to pick beneficiaries without regard to ethnicity, religion or party.

What happens next

The payments for persons with disabilities are scheduled for December 3, to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The Elderly Support Scheme follows on December 17, 2026. The next general elections are set for January 16, 2027.