The Minister of Women Affairs has faced backlash after a pre-rally empowerment programme in Nasarawa State. Between 100 and 200 women received cash grants, APC-branded fabrics, sewing machines and refrigerators. The event was linked to First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s initiative under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Organisers presented it as support for women’s businesses. Critics called it vote-buying and misuse of public funds.
The optics are the problem. A minister handing out refrigerators at a campaign rally is not a social protection programme. It is a transaction with a camera present. The items are small. A sewing machine costs perhaps ₦150,000. A refrigerator costs perhaps ₦300,000. For 200 women, the total might reach ₦50 million. That is not a budget line for women’s empowerment. It is a campaign expense with a ministerial stamp.
The criticism online was immediate. Nigerians pointed to national borrowing and shortages in healthcare, fuel, security and infrastructure. They asked why there is money for campaign handouts but none for ambulances or steady power. The question is fair. It is also the wrong question. The right question is which account paid for the handouts.
If the money came from the ministry’s budget, it is public funds used for partisan ends. If it came from the party, it is vote-buying. If it came from a private donor, it is a donation with an expectation. None of those answers is empowerment.
The historical echo is 2019, when the APC distributed rice and cash at rallies across the South West. The 2023 cycle repeated the pattern in the North. Each time, the programme was framed as relief. Each time, it peaked in election season and vanished afterwards. The pattern is consistent because the incentive is consistent. Handouts buy attendance, and attendance buys headlines.
The women who received the items are not the villains here. A sewing machine is a tool, and a refrigerator is an asset. The problem is the framing. A genuine empowerment programme has a register, a selection process and a follow-up. This one had a rally, a banner and a minister. The difference is not the money. It is the accountability.
The losers are the taxpayers who fund the borrowing that makes such spending possible. They are also the women who were not in the room. And they are the credibility of every future empowerment programme, which will now be seen as a campaign stunt. The winners are the party, which got a rally; the minister, who got visibility; and the 200 women, who got items they may have needed.
For a market woman in Lafia who did not receive a grant, the lesson is simple. The handout is not for her. It is for the photograph. And the photograph will be used again in 2027, when the campaign comes back with more refrigerators.
Winners: The APC, which got a campaign event. The minister, who got a photo opportunity. The 200 women who received items. Losers: Taxpayers funding the borrowing. Women excluded from the list. The credibility of empowerment programmes.
Bottom Line: A handout at a rally is not empowerment. It is a receipt, and the receipt is a vote.