RismadarVoice Reporters
October 29, 2026
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has announced an empowerment package valued at approximately ₦12 billion for elderly citizens and persons with disabilities across participating senatorial districts.
The intervention, organised under the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), was unveiled on Thursday during a stakeholders’ meeting with All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidates at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja.
According to a statement by her media aide, Busola Kukoyi, each participating senatorial district is expected to receive ₦110 million for two programmes supporting vulnerable Nigerians.
The package provides ₦55 million each for the RHI Economic Empowerment Programme for Persons with Disabilities and the RHI Elderly Support Scheme.
Under the announced arrangements, 250 beneficiaries in each category are expected to receive ₦200,000 individually.
However, the stated payments amount to ₦50 million per programme, leaving a difference of ₦5 million between the announced allocation and direct beneficiary payments in each category. The statement did not explain the difference.
Tinubu directed APC senatorial candidates to coordinate implementation and identify eligible beneficiaries, while stressing that political affiliation must not determine access to assistance.
She said the intervention should benefit deserving citizens regardless of whether they belonged to the ruling party.
The First Lady explained that the decision to work through senatorial candidates followed consultations on how best to coordinate the programme at the constituency level.
She also disclosed that the disability empowerment programme would hold on December 3, coinciding with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, while the elderly support scheme was scheduled for December 17, 2026.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio commended the initiative and urged the candidates to ensure that the support reached its intended beneficiaries.
APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, similarly called for an inclusive selection process without discrimination based on religion, ethnicity or political affiliation.
The announcement follows earlier RHI interventions that provided financial assistance to elderly citizens and persons with disabilities across Nigeria.
However, the involvement of political candidates in coordinating the latest package raises questions about how beneficiary selection, disbursement and accountability will be independently monitored.
Details of the programme’s funding sources, verification procedures and safeguards against political discrimination were not specified in the statement.
The initiative remains an announced programme, with actual disbursements scheduled for December.
