By Sodiq Adelakun
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has reaffirmed his administration’s resolve to dismantle barriers and eliminate discrimination while creating an enabling environment for women to thrive in Lagos State.
The Governor made this known on Tuesday during the second phase of the 2025 Micro Enterprise Support Initiative (MESI), organised by the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) at Blue Roof, Alausa, Ikeja.
Represented by his wife, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the Governor oversaw the distribution of working tools to 1,700 beneficiaries to strengthen entrepreneurship and enhance livelihoods.
Sanwo-Olu described MESI as a programme designed to create opportunities for women and safeguard their rights.
The items donated include stoning machines, aluminium fabricating machines, sewing machines, hairdressing kits, agricultural inputs such as fertiliser, seeds, vap sack sprayers, and orange-fleshed sweet potato vines. Others were cake mixers, photography equipment and cameras, two-phase industrial burners with cooking pots, vulcanising machines, POS machines, popcorn machines with gas cylinders, pedicure sets, pepper grinders, and cash grants for petty traders.
“One of my greatest passions as Governor of this State is to empower our women,” Sanwo-Olu said. “Over the years, I have seen first-hand that when you empower a woman, you empower a family, a community, and indeed the entire society. Supporting them is not just a duty; it is an investment in the collective prosperity of Lagos.”
He cautioned beneficiaries to apply discipline, determination, and diligence in managing the support they had received, warning against selling or misusing the equipment.
Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs Bolaji Cecilia-Dada, described MESI as a platform that reinforces the economic foundation of women, families, and communities.
She disclosed that 70 percent of the recipients were graduates of the Ministry’s tuition-free Skills Acquisition Centres, underscoring the government’s strategy of converting vocational training into thriving businesses.
“These items are not just working tools, but gateways to dignity, productivity, and financial independence,” Cecilia-Dada said. “They represent the government’s commitment to tackling poverty head-on and providing practical solutions to the daily economic realities of women and families in Lagos State.”
