Women empowerment: NFWP-SU seeks collaboration of traditional rulers, market women in Ogun

From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta

Determined to uplift no fewer than 105,000 women and empower them in Ogun State, the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up (NFWP-SU) has intensified its mobilization efforts across the state, seeking stronger collaboration from traditional rulers and market women in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, the Project Coordinator of NFWP-SU in the state, Mrs. Bolanle Fadairo has disclosed.

According to her, the women empowerment programme was taken to the Lusada International Market and key community and traditional institutions within the local government, to further deepen the impact and objectives of the empowerment initiatives.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Palace of the Onigboko of Orile-Igboko, Igbesa, Mrs Fadairo, highlighted the commitment of the programme to enhancing the economic resilience of women through financial literacy, market linkages, technology adoption and
organised group structures.

She emphasized that NFWP-SU remained a non-political, community-driven and targeted at building long-term capacity rather than offering one-off handouts.

The Project Coordinator urged market women to endeavour to organise themselves into functional groups to fully benefit from the intervention, noting that the five-year programme was being structured to shift women from economic vulnerability to sustainable independence.

“Beneficiaries in other zones have already recorded notable improvements in income levels, savings habits and business expansion, a proof that the model works when communities fully embrace it.

“This outreach forms part of NFWP-SU’s broader strategy to strengthen community ownership, ensuring that women at the grassroots, especially traders, artisans and micro-entrepreneurs to benefit fully from the State’s empowerment agenda”, Fadairo stated.

In their separate remarks, the Onigboko of Orile-Igboko, Igbesa, Oba Itu Yusuf Olasukanmi, and the Olodan of Odan, Odan-Abuja, Oba Nosiru Teslimi Ayinla, applauded the initiative and pledged their support.

They commended Governor Dapo Abiodun for prioritizing women-focused development.

Assuring of increasing support through the mobilization of community leaders, market heads and youth structures to ensure the programme’s success in the area, the monarchs affirmed that the project remained an avenue for financial liberation to women.

The sensitization was extended to the Lusada International Market, where traders welcomed the awareness campaign and expressed readiness to participate in the programme.