The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has said the ministry’s doors remain open to partnerships capable of delivering measurable impact, particularly at the grassroots.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim stated this in Calabar, Cross River State, on Friday while speaking at the 3rd Annual Women Conference and Empowerment Campaign of the Women Life Enhancement Initiative of the Women Fellowship of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star.
She said empowering women should go beyond providing opportunities to equipping them with the skills, resources and support required to become economically independent and contribute meaningfully to society.
According to her, women need access to skills, finance, productive assets, technology, markets and mentorship to fully realise their potential.
She said the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development had introduced several initiatives targeting women’s economic empowerment, including PowerHer774, the Renewed Hope Women Agro-Value Expansion Programme, Women in Nigeria Gas Sector (WiNGS), Green Economy Empowerment Programme 774 and the Nigeria for Women Project Scale-Up.
The minister said the programmes were designed to support women in areas including clean energy, agriculture, gas entrepreneurship, electric mobility, savings and access to financial services.
She noted that women remained central to the wellbeing of families and communities, stressing that equipping them with knowledge, confidence and economic capacity would have benefits beyond the individual to households and society.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim also commended the Women Life Enhancement Initiative for its skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, mentorship and humanitarian programmes, as well as its multipurpose factory and planned 400-bed capacity orphanage.
She urged women to utilise opportunities provided through empowerment programmes to build enterprises, mentor others and become agents of positive change.
The minister said the ministry would continue to expand interventions promoting women’s economic empowerment and work with organisations whose initiatives aligned with its mandate.
She added that sustainable empowerment should combine economic independence with responsible leadership, resilience, dignity and positive values.
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