Shettima Flags Off Katsina Women's Investment Fund as 40,000 Become Eligible for Business Capital

Vice President Kashim Shettima on Sunday flagged off the Community Investment Fund (CIF) disbursement in Katsina State, with more than 40,000 women now eligible to receive business capital after meeting the programme's eligibility conditions. The event held at Muhammadu Dikko Stadium, Katsina, under the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up (NFWP-SU) Project.

Shettima also inaugurated 32 compressed natural gas-powered buses and 200 electric-powered tricycles to ease public transportation, alongside completed road projects executed under the Katsina State Comprehensive Urban Renewal Programme to improve traffic flow, connectivity and urban mobility.

Eligibility Tied to Savings and Training

Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, said the Vice President described the fund as an empowerment programme for which training is required, noting that money needs knowledge and organisation to produce lasting results.

Shettima said savings and lending through Women Affinity Groups are linked to training, financial literacy and access to productive resources. He urged beneficiaries to keep sound records and protect the trust within their groups, adding that the habits that qualified them would matter even more when larger sums passed through their hands.

He asked those administering the fund to ensure eligibility remains the basis of access, without favouritism or political interference.

Shettima on Reforms and Women's Capital

Shettima said the economic reforms of President Bola Tinubu's administration must translate into stronger businesses, greater purchasing power and an improved quality of life for Nigerians. "We must connect national policy to the circumstances of the trader, the producer and the service provider," he said.

He argued that women have carried heavy responsibilities with limited means. "We owe these women an economy worthy of their labour," he said. "Our daughters should inherit their mothers' determination without inheriting every obstacle their mothers endured."

He added that the scale of an enterprise often says more about the owner's access to finance than about the reach of her imagination.

Katsina Raises Its Commitment to N8bn

Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Radda, said the state government has committed an additional N4 billion to the implementation of the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up, bringing the state's total financial commitment to N8 billion.

Radda said the flag-off was expanding economic opportunities for women across the state with the objective of improving their livelihoods. He applauded the participation of women living with hearing impairment, particularly the formation of affinity groups to enhance inclusion, describing it as one of the most encouraging developments under the programme.

For Nigerian businesses, the Katsina disbursement puts fresh working capital directly into small trading and service enterprises, the kind of spending that feeds local markets rather than large corporate balance sheets. The N8 billion state commitment also signals that subnational governments are now co-funding federal social investment schemes, which could shape how similar programmes are financed in other states.