Thousands of women in Ogun State are set to receive fresh financial support to expand their businesses and improve household incomes following the launch of a ₦6 billion Community Investment Fund (CIF) by the Federal and Ogun State governments.
The fund, launched in Ijebu-Ode under the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up (NFWP-SU), is targeted at Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) and is being implemented in partnership with the World Bank.
The initiative is designed to provide women with access to capital to strengthen existing businesses, increase productivity, create jobs and build more sustainable livelihoods.
The development is coming on the heels of significant savings and lending activities already recorded among women participating in the programme in Ogun State.
According to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, women’s groups in the state have collectively saved ₦2.69 billion, while about ₦4.01 billion has been disbursed as loans among members.
The broader programme has established 5,394 Women Affinity Groups, reaching more than 124,000 women across 3,489 communities in seven local government areas.
However, the latest ₦6 billion fund will immediately benefit 3,855 groups across four participating local government areas.
Speaking at the flag-off, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, represented by the Chairman, Governing Council of the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development and Special Assistant, Technical and Community Engagement, Princess Jummai Idonije, commended the Ogun State Government for its commitment to women’s economic empowerment.
The minister described the women’s collective savings and enterprise activities as evidence of the potential of organised women’s groups to drive economic development from the grassroots.
She said the government’s intervention was aimed at ensuring that women were not only recipients of development programmes but also active contributors to economic growth.
“Women are not merely beneficiaries of development, but active participants and drivers of economic transformation,” she said.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim noted that when women have greater access to productive resources and economic opportunities, the benefits could extend beyond individual businesses to families and communities.
She urged the beneficiaries to use the fund responsibly, keep proper financial records and maintain accountability within their groups.
The minister also called on the Ogun State Government and implementing partners to connect the women to wider opportunities in finance, markets, digital skills, agriculture and value chains, clean energy and enterprise development.
The Women Affinity Group model has become an important component of the Nigeria for Women Programme, providing women with platforms for collective savings, financial literacy, responsible borrowing, entrepreneurship and mutual accountability.
In Ogun, the programme has also linked participating women to opportunities including health insurance, climate adaptation and National Identification Number enrolment.
Governor Dapo Abiodun, represented at the event by former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Motunrayo Adijat Adeleye, said the fund would help women move beyond subsistence activities and build sustainable enterprises.
The governor stressed that the intervention was not simply an outright grant, but a financing facility designed to provide capital for establishing and expanding businesses, creating employment and improving household welfare.
He disclosed that the Scale-Up phase had expanded to Ifo, Ado-Odo/Ota, Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu, Abeokuta North, Ipokia and Remo North local government areas.
The governor also highlighted the savings and lending activities of participating women, describing them as indicators of the financial discipline and trust developed through the affinity group system.
For many women operating small and informal businesses, access to affordable capital remains an important challenge. The WAG approach seeks to address this by combining financing with savings, enterprise development, financial literacy and collective accountability.
The World Bank Task Team Manager, Michael Ilesanmi, said the programme was helping to address financial access challenges facing women while strengthening their capacity to withstand economic pressures.
The Federal Ministry said Ward Facilitators had also been trained to support the implementation of the programme at the grassroots.
With the latest ₦6 billion intervention, attention will now turn to how effectively the funds translate into expanded women-owned businesses, higher incomes, employment opportunities and stronger livelihoods across Ogun communities.
