•Women empowerment will end GBV – dRPC
Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, on Friday launched the Women Economic Empowerment Policy at the ongoing Women Economic Empowerment Summit, stating that 65,848 women have so far benefitted from Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme under his administration.
Launching the policy at the event held at Umaru Musa Yar’adua Hall, Murtala Mohammed Square, Kaduna, Governor Sani disclosed that his administration has ‘ramped up the implementation of the Kaduna State Women Economic Empowerment Funds (KADSWEF).
He said his government has also recorded notable achievements in its Social Investment Programmes, adding that, “65,848 women, out of the total 70,051, benefitted from our Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme.”
According to him, KADSWEF is a unique annual support initiative that provides access to financial resources for women.
“We provided the sum of N200 million in the 2024 Budget for this Fund. So far, 10,786 women have benefitted from this Fund. Government is set to flag-off the 4.0 tranche distribution to more beneficiaries with women drawn from across women cooperative groups and associations,” he added.
The Governor said his administration has “trained over 5,000 rural/semi urban women on large scale rice shelling, using modern agricultural techniques in order to increase productivity, high input processing and profit, in addition to reducing labour cost and improving quality of products.”
He also said over 120 women and adolescent girls have been equipped with various vocational and entrepreneurship development skills.
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In the area of agriculture, the Governor said the State made history by carrying out the largest free fertilizer distribution in Nigeria, and women farmers were key beneficiaries of the exercise, saying that he “approved the distribution of 500 trucks of fertilizer, out of which 240,000 bags have been distributed free to 120,000 smallholder farmers.”
He explained that his administration is investing in women because doing so is investing in not just the economy but the future of Kaduna State, adding that the government is set to intensify efforts in strategic areas towards improving the state’s economic landscape.
Speaking at the event, one of the partners in the Women Empowerment Policy, development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) noted that there is a critical link between women economic empowerment and the prevention of gender-based violence.
He, however, urged the state governments across the country to domesticate the National Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) Policy as a key strategy.
Speaking through its Director of Partnerships and Communications, Hassan Aliyu Karofi, dRPC highlighted that empowering women economically strengthens their resilience, reduces vulnerability, and addresses root causes of violence against women.
Karofi commended Kaduna State for becoming the first to domesticate the WEE policy under Governor Uba Sani’s leadership, describing it as a significant step toward improving the lives of women and fostering safer communities. “The intersectionality between WEE policy implementation and the prevention of gender-based violence is key to protecting women and girls while improving their economic status,” he stated.
The dRPC is supporting eight states in the policy’s domestication, with 11 more states set to begin the process next month, making the initiative a nationwide movement aimed at transforming the lives of Nigerian women.