The National Project Coordinator of the Nigeria for Women Programme, Dr. Hadiza Maina, has announced that the programme is now set for a nationwide scale-up aimed at reaching about four million women across the country. She shared this update in Benin City, Edo State, during the National Council on Women Affairs and Child Development, shortly after presenting the programme’s impact Scorecard. The initiative, designed to strengthen financial inclusion and promote sustainable economic empowerment for women, is moving from its pilot phase into a much broader national rollout.
Dr. Maina explained that the pilot phase, which ran from 2019 to 2024 in six states – Niger, Kebbi, Taraba, Cross River, Abia, and Ogun – exceeded its original target by a significant margin. The programme was initially expected to empower 300,000 women but surpassed this figure by 150,000, recording over 450,000 beneficiaries. She added that this growth happened because of strong community participation and the programme’s focus on building practical financial literacy and livelihood skills. According to her, Women Affinity Groups remain the foundation of the project’s success, serving as platforms for savings, internal lending, cooperative development, and access to economic resources.
She stated that each Women Affinity Group consists of 15 to 25 women aged 18 and above, explaining that the groups are self-formed. “Women self-select themselves based on certain criteria within the community. It’s not imposed, they self-select themselves and form a cooperative,” she said. Dr. Maina described the groups as the nerve centre of the Nigeria for Women Programme scale-up projects, providing training in financial inclusion, financial literacy, health, nutrition, reproductive health services, water sanitation, digital skills, and climate smart farming. She emphasised that these interventions are designed to give women stronger economic independence and better resilience in their households.
Dr. Maina also praised the World Bank for its role in supporting the programme’s design and execution. “The World Bank is our valuable technical partner in these projects,” she stated. She noted that the remarkable results recorded during the pilot phase encouraged many state governors to request inclusion in the scale-up phase. She explained that empowering women naturally strengthens families, supports communities, improves livelihoods, and reduces youth restiveness in local areas.
Looking forward, Dr. Maina said the project aims to empower four million women across 32 states in the next phase of implementation. The initiative is expected to expand from 22,000 Women Affinity Groups at the end of the pilot to about 170,000 groups nationwide. She described the target as conservative, saying, “We’re looking at empowering over 4 million women just to be conservative.” Speaking to Voice of Nigeria, she emphasised that inclusivity is central to the next phase. She said the programme will also accommodate women in internally displaced persons camps, refugees, and women living with disabilities, adding that it “goes down to the real vulnerables.”
Dr. Maina explained that the project is a long-term economic model designed to give women sustainable income opportunities. She said it is different from short-term palliative distribution as participants are trained to build and grow their own livelihoods. “It is not the usual dole out of palliative. It is economic empowerment initiative that is diverse, that is sustainable, because you do it yourself,” she said. She narrated how the programme has transformed the lives of women at the lowest income levels. “You can imagine a woman at nano level selling garri ten naira is now a landowner through the livelihood support. Such a woman will have economic freedom which indirectly or directly will impact on her family and community.”
She linked the programme to the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and said the initiative contributes to national economic goals. According to her, the Nigeria for Women Programme will help women contribute to the country’s Gross Domestic Product and support the vision of building a trillion-dollar economy. “We have a programme that will enable you contribute to the GDP of this country. We’re dreaming of a trillion-dollar economy,” she stated. She added that the team will continue to work to ensure that women are positioned to contribute meaningfully to national growth. “We will continue to do our best to make sure that we deliver on Nigerian women’s economic empowerment. To make sure that the women are positioned to contribute to the GDP, to the one trillion Dollar economy we envision by 2030.”
Dr. Maina also expressed appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Women Affairs, saying, “I really want to appreciate the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and my Minister whom he has given the right key to operate the Women Affairs Ministry. She’s a right peg in the right hole and she is delivering on the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
The Nigeria for Women Programme is a Federal Government and World Bank economic empowerment initiative aimed at improving women’s earnings and strengthening household resilience. It promotes financial inclusion, internal lending, business development, climate-smart livelihoods, digital access, and life skills, reinforcing the commitment that empowering women leads to stronger families, more prosperous communities, and long-term national development.
