FG Empowers Benue Women With Grants, Relief Materials

As part of efforts to cushion the impact of insecurity and economic hardship in Benue State, the Federal Government has delivered relief and empowerment packages to women and vulnerable families.
The intervention comes against the backdrop of recurring violence in Benue, where recent reports documented fresh killings and displacement in communities such as Logo, Ukum, and Guma Local Government Areas, forcing hundreds into makeshift camps.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim, presented the items on Saturday in Makurdi, the state capital on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu
This was contained in a statement signed by her media aide, Jonathan Eze, on Sunday.
According to the statement, the Minister was received at the Air Force Airstrip in Markurdi by women and girls in colourful traditional attire, waving Nigerian flags to welcome the minister, before proceeding to the Government House, where she was received by Governor Hyacinth Alia, Deputy Governor Sir Sam Ode, and other top officials of the state government.
Speaking during the gathering, the Ibrahim said the relief was in line with the President’s directive to put it directly in the hands of women so that they were economically empowered to contribute to national development.
“In line with the directive of President Tinubu and the First Lady, we are putting money directly into the hands of women so they can be economically empowered and contribute meaningfully to national development,” the minister said, just as also added that the government’s relief package included “400 bags of rice, twenty bales of Ankara fabrics, fairly used clothes, pepper-grinding machines, and tailoring machines for women and vulnerable families.”
“In addition, twenty women farmers received one million naira each, with an advance payment of ₦500,000 already disbursed and the balance scheduled for later in the year,” the statement added.
Cash support was also extended to women’s groups and survivors of gender-based violence, while the Minister conveyed the goodwill of President Tinubu, highlighting federal programmes on economic empowerment, social investment, and capacity-building for women in leadership.
Governor Alia, also speaking at the event, praised the initiative and reiterated his administration’s commitment to empowering women and supporting internally displaced persons.
In appreciation, Tiv leaders decorated the Minister with traditional attire and conferred on her the title of Dooshima of Benue, meaning “the love of Benue people.”
The visit ended with expressions of gratitude from both the government and residents, who described the intervention as timely given the state’s ongoing security and economic challenges