Poverty is sexist
Minister of women affairs wants women to take less loans and pick up more hoes
Happy Friday, Big Brains. What’s on your weekend watchlist? Whatever you do, avoid Tokunbo on Netflix. I’ve not recovered the two brain cells I lost while watching it. Now that I've saved you from a mediocre watch, enjoy the last edition of the week!
- Margaret
Word count: ~800
Reading time ~3 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Women Minister Kennedy-Ohanenye advocates for Nigerian women to farm more and stop taking loans
Tinubu instructs stakeholders to address the root causes of flooding
Spain to donate 500,000 Mpox vaccines to Africa
The Big Deal
Women Minister Kennedy-Ohanenye advocates for Nigerian women to farm more and stop taking loans
It appears that Nigerian women are not escaping farm life this year. In July, first lady Remi Tinubu started the petition for women to pick up hoes and touch some grass, and now the Minister of Women affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, is seconding it.
But Kennedy-Ohanenye decided to add a little extra something to the call to farm – no more loans for Nigerian women.
If Nigerian women need money, the honourable minister says they should grow special crops like sunflower, hibiscus and Jatropha in Nigeria. Kennedy-Ohanenye is making this possible with a million-dollar partnership with the State of Atlanta in the US. These special crops will then be bought from Nigerian women for the production of fuel and other commodities in the US.
According to her, gender empowerment loans are not favourable for Nigerian women because they still come with interests. Let’s just say Kennedy-Ohanenye is trying to help Nigerian women catch their own fish rather than giving it to them and still asking for extra fish in return.
Why is this a big deal?
The minister swears that this project will take women out of poverty by generating millions of dollars in profit. We’re all up for helping women get their bag but we’re not so big on the abolishment of gender empowerment loans.
Nigeria's inflation is at an all-time high, and the cost of living shows no signs of reducing. If anything, women need loans more than ever. Poverty is extremely feminised in Nigeria as women make up 60% of the poorest people in the country.
What we expect the ministry of women affairs to do is call for a temporary reduction or complete removal of the interests on these loans while also exploring more business options to sustain financial empowerment for these women.
Tinubu instructs stakeholders to address the root causes of flooding
49 deaths and 41.344 destroyed homes later, President Tinubu is finally thinking of a flood management strategy.
The President showed sympathy for flooding victims and stressed the need to work together on sustainable solutions to address climate challenges.
He also prayed for those who have passed away and assured Nigerians that his administration will keep supporting victims and their families through relevant agencies. He also promised that his administration will do more to pass timely warnings and provide more assistance to reduce the impact of environmental disasters.
Spain to donate 500,000 Mpox vaccines to Africa
Remember how we said we were keeping our fingers crossed for DR Congo yesterday? Turns out that the Central African country might no longer be needing our sympathy and kind wishes because Spain will be giving 500,000 doses of Mpox vaccine to central African countries soon. Although the government hasn’t yet said which countries will receive the vaccines or when, we believe that DR Congo should be one of the beneficiaries.
Spain is also calling on other European Union countries to donate 20% of their Mpox vaccines, arguing that keeping vaccines where there isn’t a problem doesn’t make sense.
This probably inspired France and Germany because they’ve both pledged to donate 100,000 doses each to affected countries.
Like we mentioned yesterday, Africa still needs 10 million doses of this vaccine so we hope other European countries follow Spain’s example.
The Big Picks
FG Okays 50% Electricity Subsidy For Public Hospitals: The Federal Government has approved a 50% electricity subsidy for public hospitals nationwide.
Court Strikes Out Suit Against #EndBadGovernance Protesters: A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the #Endbadgovernance protesters.
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