Oluremi Tinubu supports 500 Cross River traders with cash, gifts

The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has distributed cash support and gift items to 500 market women in Cross River State as part of efforts to boost small businesses and strengthen grassroots mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The empowerment programme, held on Saturday at Watt Market in Calabar, was organised through the Women Mobilisation Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

Market women and petty traders play a significant role in Nigeria’s informal economy, particularly in the retail and distribution of food, household goods and other essential commodities. However, many operate small businesses with limited working capital and depend largely on personal savings, informal contributions and loans from family and friends to sustain their trade.

A 2024 report by Women’s World Banking, citing International Finance Corporation data, estimated that women account for about 70 per cent of trading in Nigerian markets. Despite their contribution to economic activities, access to affordable finance remains a major challenge for many women entrepreneurs.

Research by the World Bank has also highlighted the financing gap facing women-owned businesses in Nigeria. Women own approximately 40 per cent of the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises, but women-led businesses have lower access to finance than their male-led counterparts, with higher loan rejection rates.

The First Lady was represented at the event by the Deputy Director of the directorate and former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr Betta Edu.

Speaking during the distribution exercise, Edu said the programme was organised at the instance of the First Lady, who is leading women’s mobilisation across the country.

According to her, Tinubu sent the team to Calabar to engage market women, artisans and petty traders and provide them with seed capital to expand their businesses.

She said, “We are not here on our own. We are here on the directive of the wife of Mr President and our First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who is leading women’s mobilisation across the country. We are here to support you to grow and expand your businesses with N50,000 cash support and other gift items for 500 market women.

“We have not come empty-handed. We have come with different categories of empowerment. You saw people leave here today with deep freezers, blenders and toasters. And you saw people who will leave with different amounts of money.”

She explained that many of the traders operated with limited capital, with some having goods worth between N5,000 and N10,000 on their trays, adding that the N50,000 support would help them expand their businesses.

“The idea is to provide seed funds in the hands of these women so that they can expand that business, build on it, and things can get better for themselves and their children,” Edu stated.

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She also used the opportunity to highlight the achievements of the Tinubu administration, including the Students Loan Scheme, free maternal healthcare for pregnant women, subsidised dialysis and other social interventions targeting women and vulnerable groups.

Edu disclosed that the Calabar outreach was the first phase of the programme in the state, adding that similar exercises had been scheduled for Ogoja in November or December and the northern senatorial district in January 2027.

She said the programme would be extended to all states of the federation.

“This is not only for Cross River. We are doing the same for every other state. We have foot soldiers across the entire state, and they will be doing this to support women as we go into the elections,” she said.

She urged residents of Cross River State to come out en masse to vote for President Bola Tinubu, Governor Bassey Otu and other APC candidates in the 2027 elections.

One of the beneficiaries from Odukpani Local Government Area, Esther Bassey, a widow and mother of three, expressed appreciation to the First Lady and the APC-led administration.

She said the support would help her cater for her children and pledged to mobilise her family to vote for the APC in 2027.

“I am a widow, a mother of three children. With this empowerment, I have something to do so that I can take care of my children. So I will support this government because APC is going again come the 2027 election. As far as I am concerned, my family and I are voting for APC,” she said.

Earlier, as part of the programme, Edu led members of the directorate to the General Hospital, Calabar, where they visited women and children receiving treatment, donated gift items and offered words of encouragement.

The Hospital Administrator, Mrs Bassey Offiong-Effiom, thanked the First Lady for the intervention and commended the Federal and Cross River State governments for their efforts to improve healthcare delivery.

“We thank our mother, the First Lady, who came to visit us. She has always been with us, and she has not forgotten us. I want to thank our governor’s wife. I want to thank everybody for all that they have done, for always supporting us in the health sector, helping us because we are like the eye of the health sector in the state. I really thank God for all the interventions they have been doing here,” she added.