Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has called for improved access to healthcare, education, finance and decision-making opportunities for rural women, while calling for more inclusion of their needs in development policies.
She made the call on Wednesday at a symposium organised by the Association of Wives of FCT Traditional Rulers, WOFCTTRA, in Abuja to mark the 2026 International Rural Women’s Day.
The symposium, organised in collaboration with the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, was themed, “Harnessing the Influence of Wives of Traditional Rulers to Advance Gender Equity, Peacebuilding, and Sustainable Community Development in Rural Communities of FCT.”
Represented by a former All Progressives Congress, APC, women leader in the FCT, Mrs Hilmary Aipoh, the First Lady urged wives of traditional rulers to use their grassroots influence to promote gender equity, economic empowerment and peacebuilding in rural communities.
She said rural women play indispensable roles in agriculture, trade, crafts, caregiving and cultural preservation but continue to face significant barriers to development.
“Rural women remain the backbone of local economies and cultural preservation, yet continue to face significant systemic hurdles.
“Many rural women still face barriers to education, healthcare, land ownership, finance, and participation in decision-making. Recognising their contributions must translate into greater opportunities, protection, and inclusion,” she said.
Tinubu urged the traditional rulers’ wives to use their access to market associations, women’s groups and young people to bridge the gap between rural communities and leadership.
“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.
“These challenges range from the mothers struggling to access maternal healthcare, to the farmer facing rising production costs, the girl at risk of dropping out of school, and the young woman seeking capital establishment,” she said.
She also urged them to champion girls’ education, discourage harmful traditional practices, promote women’s participation in community decisions and mediate local disputes to foster lasting peace.
Earlier, the President of WOFCTTRA and Queen of Abaji Chiefdom, Hajiya Hauwa Adamu, called for targeted interventions to improve the welfare and safety of rural women across the FCT.
Adamu said rural women remained central to national development and warned against neglecting rural communities in development planning.
“If you develop the city and forget the village, you have built a house without foundation,” she said.
She proposed the establishment of Rural Women Safe Motherhood Clubs across the FCT’s six area councils and a Palace-Based Peacebuilding Network to enable rural women to report gender-based violence and seek community mediation.
She also called for collaboration with the Renewed Hope Initiative to ensure rural women benefit from development programmes.
In addition, Adamu sought support for an official FCT Rural Women Traditional Institution Desk to ensure concerns raised in traditional palaces reach government decision-makers.
She said royal palaces often serve as first points of contact for women facing domestic disputes, health emergencies and threats to their education or safety.
“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.
“When there is misunderstanding between husband and wife in Bwari, it is the wife of the chief they call; when a woman bleeds during childbirth in hard-to-reach Abaji, it is we who mobilise the midwife. We are the bridge,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary of the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, Hajiya Asmau Mukhtar, reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to improving rural women’s welfare, economic capacity and livelihoods across the six area councils.
Mukhtar commended rural women for their contributions to agriculture, food security, family welfare, entrepreneurship and community development, assuring them of inclusion in the territory’s development efforts.
Also speaking, President of the Helpline Social Support Initiative, HSSI, Dr Jumai Ahmadu, called for practical measures to accelerate grassroots development, promote gender equality and strengthen peacebuilding.
Ahmadu, who was represented by the organisation’s Programme Officer, Amina Omale, said meaningful national development must begin at the grassroots.
