By Peter Omopo
The Federal Government has launched the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up (NFWP-SU), a major national initiative designed to expand women’s economic empowerment and reach more than 25 million Nigerian women across the country.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inaugurated the programme earlier in the week, describing it as a strategic national investment rather than a social intervention. The President was represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
According to a statement released on Friday, President Tinubu said the scale-up signals a decisive shift in Nigeria’s development strategy, placing women’s economic empowerment, family stability and social development at the centre of national growth. He stressed that sustainable prosperity cannot be achieved while a significant portion of the population remains economically constrained.
“Women are not peripheral to national development. They are central drivers of productivity, custodians of family stability, and indispensable partners in our ambition to build a resilient, competitive and prosperous nation,” the President said.
He noted that empowering women is critical to job creation, food security, financial inclusion and economic diversification under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
President Tinubu said the success of Phase I of the programme, which reached more than one million women across six states, demonstrated that structured and data-driven empowerment models can deliver lasting and measurable results. Building on this success, he announced plans to scale the programme nationwide, creating a sustainable platform for women’s economic inclusion embedded at the federal, state and local government levels.
The President called on development partners, particularly the World Bank, to support the expansion through financing, technical assistance and innovation. He also commended the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim, for what he described as disciplined leadership and institutional reforms within the ministry.
He highlighted the integration of digital tools such as the Happy Woman App, identity verification systems and transparent targeting mechanisms as evidence of the administration’s commitment to accountability and measurable public policy outcomes.
“This is how public trust is rebuilt and how government resources reach real people with real impact,” he said.
Speaking at the event, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, said the Bank was honoured to co-finance the programme with the Federal and State Governments. He noted that the initiative aligns with the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework for Nigeria, which prioritises economic opportunities, private sector growth and job creation.
Verghis observed that Nigerian women remain disproportionately affected by poverty, with more than 64 per cent living below the lower-middle-income poverty line, despite their significant contributions to agriculture, trade and enterprise. He described the Women Affinity Group (WAG) model under the programme as a proven mechanism for lifting women out of poverty through collective savings, access to credit and enterprise development.
He disclosed that over 28,000 WAGs currently empower about 600,000 women nationwide, adding that reducing gender inequality could increase Nigeria’s annual GDP growth by more than 1.25 percentage points and potentially add nearly $23 billion to the economy.
Also speaking, World Bank Practice Manager for Social Protection and Jobs, Robert S. Chase, described the NFWP-SU as one of the most ambitious gender-focused social and economic interventions in Africa. He said the programme’s strength lies in building sustainable systems that combine social capital, financial inclusion and access to productive opportunities.
The Phase II scale-up is a $540 million programme co-financed by the World Bank and the Federal and State Governments. It will be implemented across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with plans to directly reach five million women, generate about 4.5 million jobs and indirectly benefit nearly 19.5 million Nigerians, while laying the foundation for the broader target of 25 million women.
Under Phase I, over 26,500 Women Affinity Groups were formed, bringing together more than 560,000 women who collectively saved over ₦4.9 billion, expanded businesses and improved household welfare. The model has attracted international interest, with several countries seeking to learn from Nigeria’s experience.
The National Coordinator of the programme, Dr Hadiza Maina, is leading the implementation process, alongside stakeholders including representatives of the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the National Assembly and state commissioners for women’s affairs.
With the official launch of the scale-up, stakeholders say Nigeria has taken a significant step toward institutionalising women’s empowerment as a core pillar of national development.
