The Kano State Government has said its N50,000 monthly Empowerment and Poverty Relief Programme is helping to lift women out of poverty and boost the local economy.
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf stated this while presiding over the disbursement of start-up capital to beneficiaries at the Coronation Hall, Government House, Kano.
According to a statement signed on Wednesday by the governor’s spokesperson, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, Yusuf said the programme was “strategically designed to enable beneficiaries to contribute meaningfully to the local economy.”
He described the initiative as “a direct fulfilment of the campaign promises made by this administration to the people of Kano State.”
The governor disclosed that his administration had designated 2026 as “a year of intensive empowerment for men, women and youths,” noting that the move was part of deliberate efforts to tackle poverty and improve livelihoods across the state.
Yusuf said the empowerment programme had been “consistently implemented since the assumption of office,” adding that thousands of women had so far benefited and recorded “significant improvements in their standard of living.”
He revealed that “reports available to the government showed that a beneficiary judiciously invested her initial N50,000 grant in a business venture and grew her capital to over N1.2 million within two years.”
The governor urged the new beneficiaries “to utilise the funds prudently to support their families and contribute positively to their communities.”
He also commended the Kano State House of Assembly, under the leadership of the Speaker, Alhaji Jibril Ismail Falgore, as well as the chairmen of the 44 local government councils, for their “legislative support and timely release of funds for the programme.”
The statement further noted that the administration’s women-focused inclusiveness was “yielding positive results,” with “about 5.2 million persons empowered in January.”
In his remarks, Falgore said “the scale of infrastructural development and poverty alleviation programmes being executed by the Yusuf administration is evident across the state.”
He added that “even critics of the administration have acknowledged the visible and positive transformation of Kano State under Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.”
