Remi Tinubu takes women's empowerment rally to Enugu, promises ₦200,000 grants

The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, launched a women's empowerment programme for the South-East on Saturday at Okpara Square in Enugu, combining handouts of business equipment with open campaigning for the 2027 elections.

Women from Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Imo and Anambra states received sewing machines, food processors, generating sets and popcorn machines to support their small businesses, according to the organisers.

Senator Tinubu said the country had moved past the hardest part of President Bola Tinubu's economic reforms. "We have done reforms and we are now in prosperity. Don't allow anyone to deceive you. The worst is over," she told the gathering, adding that she was relaying the President's greetings.

She compared the reform period to labour in childbirth: painful, but ending in delivery.

What was promised

The First Lady said APC senatorial candidates would receive funds on December 3 to give 250 women each in their districts ₦200,000 to start businesses. A separate programme on December 17 is meant for 250 people aged 65 and above. Each scheme is to reach 750 people across Enugu's three senatorial districts.

Enugu Governor Peter Mbah said the rally was planned to reach more than 5,000 women across the region. He said his office had helped over 2,000 Enugu women in the previous 48 hours through cash support, hospital bills and tools, and argued the aim was to make women earners rather than depend on handouts.

Mbah also credited larger federal allocations to the states for projects such as Smart Green Schools and primary healthcare centres.

The event drew Vice-President Kashim Shettima's wife, Hajiya Nana Shettima, Governors Hope Uzodimma of Imo and Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, and Anambra Deputy Governor Onyekachukwu Ibezim, along with federal ministers and party officials.

Election talk dominates

Party leaders used the rally to push for President Tinubu's second term. Nwifuru said plainly: "Our project is how to deliver the President for a second term."

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu said the South-East should not settle for a four-year presidency when an Igbo person eventually takes the office, arguing for eight years instead. He pointed to the South-East Development Commission and federal appointments as signs of the President's attention to the region.

Mbah urged Igbo voters to take part in the coming elections, saying: "We are not a people that are ethnic by nature. We are a people that are strategic."

For ordinary residents, the immediate takeaway is the equipment already handed out and the December cash promises. Whether the grants arrive, and who receives them, will be watched closely in a region where small trading and tailoring businesses are a main source of family income.

The 2027 general elections are the next major political test, and the South-East vote is likely to be fiercely contested.