In furtherance of its efforts toward the liberation and empowerment of rural women, the Ogun State Government says it is set to replicate the World Bank/Federal Government Nigeria for Women Programme (NFWP) in the State.

This, the State government said would address barriers to women’s prosperity and reduce poverty in the State.

          The Nigeria for Women Programme is a strategic long-term partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the World Bank to support State government to empower rural women by building social capital, livelihood programmes, innovations and partnership as well as learning, among others.

Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo, stated this in Abeokuta, while playing host to the NFWP Task Team.

Okubadejo explained that unlike the World Bank/FG pilot scheme which currently covers only Odeda, Yewa North and Ijebu North East Local Government Areas (LGAs), noting that the State government would soon launch a similar programme, that would cut across all Local Government Areas across Ogun.

He said about 34 thousand women across the participating LGAs had benefited from its empowerment pilot scheme, saying any investment in women would impact the society at large and called on the Task Team to continue to collaborate with the State government in carrying out its programmes.

“The benefits are so huge, even now that we are dealing with three Local Government Areas. That is why we have decided to have our own. You can imagine the level of impact it will have by the time we scale up. We are ready to provide full support for this, and there is no better way to do that than leveraging on the existing structure, and putting our own money.

"We will continue to look forward to your support and guidance as we roll out our implementation plan for the proposed programme to make it a success”, the Commissioner stated.

Speaking earlier, the Task Team leader, NFWP, Mr. Michael Ilesanmi, commended the State government for planning to launch its own version, which he noted would complement the ongoing scheme.

Also at the meeting were Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Development Partners Coordination, Mr. Bayo Adenekan, among others.