Nigeria Launches Women Empowerment Program Scale-Up

Nigeria has launched the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up (NFWP-SU), a strategic investment initiative targeting over 25 million Nigerian women nationwide. President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the program, emphasizing women's central role in national development and economic prosperity. The NFWP-SU, co-financed by the World Bank Group and the Federal and State Governments, is a $540 million program expanding to all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. It aims to directly reach five million women, generate about 4.5 million jobs, and indirectly benefit nearly 19.5 million Nigerians. The program builds on the success of Phase I, which reached over one million beneficiaries and formed over 26,500 Women Affinity Groups (WAGs), enabling collective savings and access to credit. The World Bank Group highlighted that reducing gender inequality could increase Nigeria's annual GDP growth by over 1.25 percentage points and add nearly $23 billion to the economy. The initiative is seen as a decisive shift in Nigeria's development strategy, institutionalizing women's empowerment as a core development pillar.