Minister laments poor funding of women's ministry

• Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Minister for Women Affairs, laments the lack of funding for her ministry
• Uju revealed she has been using her resources to finance projects
• The minister plans to launch two buses, one for a mobile court and another for rescuing vulnerable girls

The Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, recently expressed frustration over the lack of funding for her ministry, revealing that she has had to finance some projects personally. 

Speaking at the "Empower Her" fundraising dinner at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Ohanenye disclosed that the funds raised during the event were for the empowerment of Nigerian women, focusing on health, justice, farming, and support initiatives.

The “Empower Her” initiative is the women’s empowerment programme focused on women’s health, justice, farming, and support.

Ohanenye highlighted several challenges she has faced, particularly bureaucratic bottlenecks that have hindered progress. 

“I got some money today. In a short while, I’ll probably start getting them into the account. And I want to make it categorically clear that I didn’t raise this money for the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, in the case of people who love to nose around, people who just love to get involved in things that don’t concern them.

“I raised this money today for Nigerian women’s affairs, for the affairs of Nigerian women. So that what President Bola Tinubu said that the women should breathe, they will breathe”.

She emphasised that despite these obstacles, she has been using her resources to carry out necessary work, such as setting up a mobile court and other programs aimed at addressing gender-based violence and protecting vulnerable girls.

“Now, I have gotten this mobile court for a while now, over five to six months ago. I didn’t have the money to do anything.

“No money has been coming out of that ministry for me to work. Everything you have been seeing, I have been using my money to do it. They are owing me procurement and otherwise. Still, they will go ahead and write a petition saying Uju did the procurement.

“Will I come to work without fuel? Will I do work in my office without papers? Will the women just sit down and die off because of putting bottleneck? Let them write a petition. I await them.

“I don’t run away from trouble, but I don’t look for one. They can take me to court if you feel I’ve done anything, but when it comes to serving my women, I will go out of my way to do that,” she said.

With the new funds, she plans to launch two buses in each state, starting with the Federal Capital Territory and Nasarawa State. 

“So one of the buses will be the moving mobile court, while the other one will be the raiding bus.

“Where am I starting? I’m starting by taking my children from the streets. I can’t continue leaving them there while men are defiling them. Every day, I get one case or the other and shed tears. My heart is totally broken.

“I decided to take the bold step to raise the money I want to work with. So the mobile court will pick those girls,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, who represented President Bola Tinubu at the event, called on stakeholders to support women empowerment initiatives, noting that empowering women strengthens families and communities, contributing to national prosperity.

FG allocates N1.6bn to combat ginger blight and boost food security

Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the Federal Government has announced an N1.6 billion intervention to help farmers fight ginger blight, a devastating disease threatening the country’s ginger production.

Fredrick Nwabufo, President Bola Tinubu's senior special assistant on public engagement, revealed the initiative on Monday via his X account, where he emphasised the government’s focus on agricultural resilience as part of its broader food security strategy.