By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has empowered 2,500 women in Imo State with business equipment and donated N250 million to support their economic activities.
Oluremi announced the support via a statement signed by her Senior Special Assistant on Media, Busola Kukoyi, on Wednesday 9 September, 2026 in Owerri after the flag-off of the South-East phase of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) and Office of the Sustainable Development Goals empowerment programme.
The beneficiaries received deep-chest freezers, maxi gas cookers with ovens, generators and industrial grinding machines to start or expand their businesses.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu said 500 women from each of the five South-East states Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo were selected for the programme, which is expected to empower 18,500 women nationwide, including beneficiaries from the Federal Capital Territory.
“Today, 500 preselected women beneficiaries in each state in the South-East will be provided with empowerment items such as deep-chest freezers, maxi gas cookers with ovens, generators, and industrial grinding machines to support them in starting or growing their existing businesses,” she said.
She disclosed that Imo received an additional 2,000 empowerment items from Governor Hope Uzodimma, increasing the state’s beneficiaries to 2,500.
Oluremi Tinubu commended Uzodimma for the gesture and urged other governors to emulate him.
She said empowering women was essential to the wellbeing and prosperity of families and society, noting that the initiative aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment and SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth.
The First Lady urged the beneficiaries to use the equipment and financial support judiciously to grow their businesses and improve their families’ welfare.
“To the beneficiaries of this empowerment programme, I encourage you to use these resources judiciously to grow your business. Let these items serve as a foundation for creating a better life for yourselves and your families,” she said.
The nationwide initiative was flagged off for the North-Central Zone in Abuja on February 21, 2025, followed by the South-South distribution on April 25, 2026, and the South-West phase on August 23, 2025.
Earlier, the Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers conferred on the First Lady the chieftaincy title ‘Oso Di Eme’, meaning ‘One who supports her husband’.
The council said the title recognised her role in promoting the policies and programmes of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Oluremi Tinubu also urged Nigerians to support the President’s administration, maintaining that the country was out of the “dark tunnel” and on a steady path to economic prosperity.
