The Honourable Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim fsi, convened a strategic virtual review meeting of the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up (NFWPSU) on Tuesday 26th May, 2026.

No crowded halls, no long commutes. Just Honorable Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, State Project Coordinators, World Bank Task Team, and our own determined Minister, all gathered in a virtual room with one shared mission: to make sure the promises made to millions of Nigerian women are actually kept.

The Permanent Secretary of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Nko Asanye Esuabana, opened the session by reminding everyone what was at stake: deliberate acceleration was no longer optional, it was imperative. Then came the data, and it told two stories at once.
The good news first. Across 13 actively implementing states, nearly 29,000 Women Affinity Groups have been formed, drawing over 670,000 women into structured economic networks. These women have collectively saved 2.7 billion naira from their own pockets and accessed over 2.2 billion naira in loans to grow businesses, pay school fees, and cover healthcare.

The National Project Coordinator, Hadiza Maina (PHD) took everyone through NWPSU implementation status dashboard supported by the FPCU MIS specialist.

The Task Team Lead, Michael Ilesanmi reaffirmed the WB support to NFWPSU to achieve amble results before the midterm review. Also reassured all SPCUs to support the acceleration implementation with the deployment of additional Technical Assistants to form WAGs

The HM commended Ogun, Ekiti, Taraba, and Jigawa State Project Implementing Units for an accelerated implementation in just ten months, had formed the most groups, mobilised the most savings, and registered the highest numbers of women for national ID and bank accounts.
Then she turned to the harder conversation: slow staff recruitment, delayed counterpart funds, and weak structures at the local government level were stalling progress. Her words were plain, women make up more than 65% of eligible voters in Nigeria, and failing to deliver for them is not just a moral failure, it is a political one.

She reaffirmed her full support for the project but made clear that support must be matched with capable hands at every level of implementation, from SPCUs down to LPIUs. More people, better equipped, deployed faster.
One of the most practical outcomes of the meeting was a straightforward decision: a WhatsApp group connecting the Minister directly with commissioners across all states. No waiting for formal reports to work their way through official channels. Success stories, milestone achievements, pictures and videos from the field all flowing in real time, keeping everyone honest and informed between meetings.

The meeting ended. The work had only just been given a new charge.

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