The wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari, has acquired 20 rice mills and 25 fish driers in furtherance of her commitment to advancing the course of women in Nigeria.
A statement Tuesday night by Director of Information in her office, Mr. Suleiman Haruna, disclosed that the gesture by Mrs Buhari was yet another effort to realise her dream of women empowerment in Nigeria adding that the President’s wife acquired the rice mills and fish driers “for use by women farmers across the country. The mills were acquired through the Aisha Buhari Foundation.”
The intervention, according to the statement, is in line with Mrs. Buhari’s belief that women need to be economically empowered if they are to play their important part in socio-economic development, especially those that have no formal education and those that have dropped out of school.
Haruna said in the statement that, “Acquisition of these equipment is part of a larger strategy to uphold the dignity of women through education and empowerment, which has recently led to the Aisha Buhari Foundation engaging with appropriate federal authorities to revive community learning centers across the country, so that women, who had minimal or no formal education can benefit through a non-formal arrangement.
“The rice mills come in two varieties, those with capacity to process 20 tons per day and those with 10 tons per day. Seven states are to receive 10 mills with 10 tons capacity, while 8 states will receive 10 of those with 20 tons capacity. The 25 fish driers, with capacity for 20 units per hour will go to 13 states across the country.
“The acquired equipment forms the first tranche of what will be distributed nationwide, and are to be in custody of the wives of the governors of the beneficiary states. Women are to access and use the equipment for free,” he said.
Mrs Buhari is confident, the statement said, that whenever women are given such an opportunity, they will use it to grow themselves and their families, especially in terms of improving their livelihood.
“She calls on them therefore to justify this confidence by using the equipment to grow their businesses.”
