Lagos, First Lady, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu has pleaded with women under the aegis of Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials, (COWLSO) to wholeheartedly support the ‘Renewed Hope’ Initiative (RHI) of the Federal Government and ensure that the message is appropriately cascaded to the grassroots.
Dr. Sanwo-Olu gave the advice recently at a programme organized by her office for all wives of Lagos State Government functionaries and wives of Chairmen of the 57 Local Government and Local Council Development Areas. The programme tagged “Sensitization on Renewed Hope Initiative” was held at the First Lady’s Banquet Hall, Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja.
The charity based initiative, a pet project of the First Lady of Nigeria, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu is targeted at providing succour and relief to vulnerable women and girls in Nigeria, stating that the primary focus of the initiative is on Quality Education, Qualitative Healthcare, Social Investment, Economic Development and Agriculture and requires the support of all and sundry to bring to fruition.
The Wife of the Governor promised that while the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is canvassing support for the Renewed Hope Agenda through the wives of the various State Governors across the country, all the First Ladies within the South-West Geo-Political Zone will also intensify efforts to independently entrench the mantra of renewed hope within their domains.
Dr. Sanwo-Olu urged participants at the sensitization meeting to cascade the message of renewed hope to the grassroots and seek support from their various circle of influence on the priority areas of the Federal Government.
She mentioned that the area of focus for the wives of the South-West Governors are Education and Agriculture and this involves the award of scholarship, girl child education, adult education, out of school drop-outs, alternative high school for girls, training on agriculture, cooperative grant, provision of fertilizers, seedlings, pesticides, tools and equipment.
Speaking on the contributions of her Office to ameliorate the present economic situation in the country, she disclosed that relief packages are being distributed to complement the fifty per cent reduction in the cost of transportation for Lagos Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) users given to residents by Lagos State Government.
The relief packages were in form of uncooked food stuff like rice, beans, garri, semo, vegetable oil, amongst others, which were distributed to vulnerable families in Idi-Araba, Ijora Badia, Agege and Ebute Metta. According to her, there is need for more of such interventions which would further be corroborated by the Office of the First Lady of Nigeria.