Anambra First Lady, Nonye Soludo, has provided 5,000 residents with business equipment and livelihood support to help them establish or expand income-generating activities across the state.
The beneficiaries, drawn from the 21 Local Government Areas, include women, youths and elderly residents who received items such as grinding and sewing machines, baking equipment, deep freezers, generators, hair dryers, mannequins, grills and livestock.
The empowerment exercise was held at the Light House in Awka on Thursday as a continuation of a programme launched on Sept. 10 during the visit of Nigeria’s First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, to Anambra.
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Speaking at the event, Soludo said the initiative was designed to tackle poverty by providing residents with productive assets to build sustainable livelihoods.
“We gather today, not merely to distribute items or celebrate another social impact programme, but to reaffirm a simple truth: when we invest in people, we invest in the future,” she said.
She said beneficiaries were selected through a screening exercise conducted across the state’s 21 Local Government Areas to ensure that support reached residents who needed it.
“We want our people to be self-reliant and able to take care of themselves and their families,” she said.
Soludo urged the beneficiaries to use the equipment for productive purposes rather than sell them, stressing that the intervention was intended to create sustainable livelihoods and enable recipients to support others.
“Don’t sell the items given to you; put them into productive use. Use them to also train other people. If you train others, you have empowered the people,” she said.
According to her, the programme could benefit far more people than the 5,000 direct recipients if beneficiaries used their businesses to train others.
“We are not just empowering 5,000 people. If each person trains four, five or even eight others, imagine how much progress we will make,” she said.
She said a monitoring system had been established to track beneficiaries and ensure the equipment was being used for its intended purposes.
“We will monitor your progress. We have your details and numbers, and we will keep track of how you are doing,” she said, adding that beneficiaries who demonstrated commitment and needed further assistance could receive additional support.
Soludo urged beneficiaries to embrace the programme’s theme, “Onye Aghana Nwanne Ya” (Be your brother’s keeper), by extending support and opportunities to others in their communities.
She also appealed to residents to report cases of child abuse, neglect and exploitation, particularly involving children subjected to domestic servitude or other forms of mistreatment.
“If you see these things happening in your neighbourhood, please report them. We need to save those children,” she said.
Gov. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, who later joined the programme, commended his wife’s initiative and pledged continued support.
He urged the beneficiaries to make productive use of the equipment, improve their families’ welfare and create opportunities for others.
One of the beneficiaries, Azuka Ezike from Aguata Local Government Area, who received a grinding machine, expressed appreciation for the intervention, saying it would improve her livelihood.
Another beneficiary, Chibundo Ezenwego from Ekwulobia, said the grinding machine would support her egusi and ogbono business, while Charles Igbo, an accountancy graduate from Nnewi North Local Government Area, pledged to put the equipment to productive use.
