The Minister for Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, announced on Monday that the $500 million ‘Nigeria for Women Project’ is poised to position Nigeria as one of the world’s top fish exporters.
Speaking during an appearance with the media, she pledged the ministry’s commitment to utilizing its $500 million fund exclusively for the project’s initiatives.
“This money is called ‘Nigeria for Women Project,’ and that is exactly and only what it will be used for. Any other thing will be totally unacceptable by women, and as far as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had signed a memo to that effect, I don’t see anywhere any human being who can change it,” she asserted.
Highlighting a critical issue, the minister noted that only 10 percent of women in Nigeria own properties.
She stressed her determination to ensure the program meets its goals, particularly in women’s empowerment and economic opportunities, including fish farming.
“We are targeting from now till February next year to give Nigerians 15 million tons of fish,” she explained, projecting that Nigerians would consume two million tons while the remaining 13 million tons would be exported. “That will make us one of the highest in export of fish,” she added.
Kennedy-Ohanenye revealed plans to collaborate with the Minister of Water Resources to provide a dam in Anambra State dedicated to fish farming. Additionally, she mentioned that modernized farming tools would be distributed to targeted women to enhance their livelihoods.
In June 2023, following the inauguration of President Tinubu’s administration, the World Bank approved $500 million for the Nigeria for Women Project, officially known as the Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up (NFWP-SU).
The World Bank stated that the funding aims to support the Nigerian government in improving women’s livelihoods, addressing gender inequality, and enhancing education, health, and nutrition outcomes for families, as well as building resilience to climate change.
The NFWP-SU, a collaboration between the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, is set to run its first phase over five years. Initially piloted in six states—Abia, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun, and Taraba—representing the country’s six geopolitical zones, the project has now expanded to all 36 states and Abuja, the federal capital.
