Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has urged wives of traditional rulers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to champion rural women’s empowerment, promote girls’ education and help end harmful traditional practices.
Tinubu made the call on Wednesday at a symposium organised by the Association of Wives of FCT Traditional Rulers (WOFCTTRA), in collaboration with the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, to commemorate the 2026 International Rural Women’s Day in Abuja.
The symposium was held under the theme, “Harnessing the Influence of Wives of Traditional Rulers to Advance Gender Equity, Peacebuilding, and Sustainable Community Development in Rural Communities of FCT.”
Represented by former FCT All Progressives Congress Women Leader, Mrs Hilmary Aipoh, the First Lady commended rural women for their resilience and contributions to national development.
She urged members of WOFCTTRA to use their influence and grassroots networks to promote economic empowerment, gender equity, community inclusion and peacebuilding.
According to her, appreciating rural women’s contributions must go beyond speeches to concrete policies and deliberate action that guarantee them better opportunities, protection and access to essential resources.
Tinubu described rural women as vital contributors to Nigeria’s economy and cultural heritage, noting their roles as farmers, traders, craftswomen, caregivers and community organisers.
“Rural women remain the backbone of local economies and cultural preservation, yet continue to face significant systemic hurdles,” she said.
She identified barriers to education, healthcare, land ownership, access to finance and participation in decision-making as some of the challenges confronting women in rural communities.
The First Lady emphasised that traditional institutions could play a strategic role in addressing these challenges, describing traditional rulers as custodians of culture and social cohesion and their wives as influential grassroots mobilisers.
She encouraged royal wives to engage market associations, women’s groups and young people to ensure that the concerns of rural communities reached government authorities and other decision-makers.
“Your influence is a privilege, but it is also a responsibility. You can help your husbands better understand the everyday challenges of the people they serve,” she said.
Tinubu also highlighted the challenges of inadequate maternal healthcare, rising agricultural production costs, girls dropping out of school and limited access to business capital for young women.
She called on the royal wives to promote girls’ education, discourage harmful traditional practices, encourage women’s participation in community decisions and help mediate local disputes to foster lasting peace.
Earlier, the President of WOFCTTRA and Queen of Abaji Chiefdom, Hajiya Hauwa Adamu, described rural women as an indispensable foundation of national development.
Adamu urged governments and development partners to ensure that rural communities benefited from development programmes, warning against concentrating projects in urban centres while neglecting villages.
“If you develop the city and forget the village, you have built a house without foundation,” she said.
She unveiled a proposed roadmap to improve the welfare, safety and security of rural women across the FCT’s six area councils.
The proposals include establishing Rural Women Safe Motherhood Clubs across the six area councils and creating a Palace-Based Peacebuilding Network through which women could report gender-based violence and seek community mediation.
Adamu also called for collaboration with the Renewed Hope Initiative to ensure that rural women in the FCT benefited from empowerment programmes.
She further advocated the establishment of an official FCT Rural Women Traditional Institution Desk to provide a channel through which concerns raised in traditional palaces could reach senior government officials.
According to her, royal palaces often serve as the first point of contact for women facing domestic disputes, threats of early marriage and emergencies requiring medical intervention.
“When a young girl in Kwali says she does not want early marriage but wants school, she runs to the Queen’s palace, not to the police station,” she said.
Adamu added that royal wives frequently mobilised assistance for women experiencing domestic disagreements and those requiring urgent maternal healthcare in hard-to-reach communities.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, Hajiya Asmau Mukhtar, reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to improving the welfare, economic capacity and livelihoods of rural women across the six area councils.
Mukhtar acknowledged rural women’s contributions to agriculture, food security, family welfare, entrepreneurship and community development, assuring that they would be included in the FCT’s development efforts.
Similarly, the President of Helpline Social Support Initiative (HSSI), Dr Jumai Ahmadu, called for stronger grassroots development initiatives, peacebuilding and gender equality.
Represented by the organisation’s Programme Officer, Mrs Amina Omale, Ahmadu said sustainable national development must begin at the grassroots, with rural women given the necessary support and opportunities to contribute meaningfully to society.
