The Lagos State Government disclosed that 500 women were supported with the sum of N20,000 each to aid the financial independence of women in the state.
The financial support was a part of the Rural Women Grants from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, as disclosed by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Bolaji Dada, at the inter-ministerial press briefing.
She also noted that 1,050 women in rural areas benefited from intensive training in increasing agricultural output, clearing a path for equal access to markets.
Dada shared the government’s prioritisation of intervention programmes that targeted the female demographic of the state towards the achievement of gender equality and other equally-balanced access to the improvement of their standards of living.
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She said, “In the last two years, WAPA, through the Women Affairs Department, organised series of programmes and activities aimed at improving the status of women in Lagos and making them economically independent.
“To increase the total GDP for income generation, financial growth and stability, we embarked on supporting women through direct cash intervention and capacity building.
“Over 48,000 women benefited from the State Government’s mega empowerment project. Our agricultural training for rural women benefited 1,050 women. We trained 250 women through an empowerment workshop on intercrop of maize and cassava with demonstration plots.”
Lagos Acquisition Skill Department
The commissioner said that the Skill Acquisition Department in the women affairs ministry, in 2019, recorded a large number of women participation.
Out of the 6,252 graduates, there were 4,200.
Dada said, In 2019, our skill acquisition centres churned out a total of 6,252 graduates, comprising 4,200 female. On the day of their graduation, Mr. Governor supported 18 outstanding students with N100,000 each to boost their morale.”
