The Renewed Hope Initiative of the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has given out ₦10m to 20 female farmers in Rivers State to boost agriculture productivity in the state. The initiative aims to ensure the availability of food items at cheaper rates to mitigate the high inflation rate in the country.
The cheques of ₦500, 000 was presented to each of the 20 women by the wife of the Rivers State Governor, Lady Valerie Fubara, on behalf of the wife of the president at an event at the government house in Port Harcourt.
Mrs. Fubara encouraged the women to use the donation to expand their existing farms to meet the target of the nation’s first lady. She reminded the beneficiaries that the money given to them now may not represent all they needed to boost their investments in the sector. Still, she added that it represented the efforts of a genuinely caring mother who did not want to sit back and allow her children to suffer.
She said, “It is a seed investment in your agricultural businesses that is backed by the prayers of the founder for you to succeed. So, I urge you to make the best use of it”. Lady Fubara further said: “You owe it as a sacred duty to ensure that these investments lead to increased and improved harvests from our farms in the next few months.
“I urge you to be frugal in the use of this seed money, and see it as a call from the Wife of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to assist in building a strong support base for the agricultural revolution in Nigeria.” Lady Fubara, noted that aside from the cheques presented to the first batch of 20 beneficiaries of the Renewed Hope Initiative Women in Agriculture Support Programme, 80 more beneficiaries will be accommodated in subsequent phases of the programme as directed by the board.
Lady Fubara again, “In the recent past, the Renewed Hope Initiative, through its Rivers State Office, has flagged off its support for the elderly; presented exercise books to school children, through the Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB); and some measures of support to ease the burden of families.
“A son of the State has also benefited from the Belarus RHI International Scholarship. This gesture, no matter how little, has been greatly appreciated by the recipients, and I cannot thank Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, enough for her foresight and commitment to this vision.”
Speaking on the effort of the Rivers State Government to agriculture, the state first lady said the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, has commenced the review of agricultural policies to mitigate the challenges experienced in the sector.
She emphasised that the state government is also committed to reviving State-owned agricultural intervention schemes such as the Songhai Integrated Farms, with encouragement to private investors to participate in the ongoing transformation in the sector. The Women in Agriculture Support Program is the third empowerment programme after the schemes for the elderly and students, since the inauguration of the pet project in the state earlier this year
