Remi Tinubu: No Budget for My Office, Calls for Direct Funding for First Lady’s Projects

Senator Oluremi Tinubu

Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has revealed that her office currently operates without any budgetary allocation from the federal government. She urged the National Assembly to approve direct annual funding for the Office of the First Lady to support the execution of at least one impactful social project each year.

Speaking at the second quarterly meeting of the Renewed Hope Initiative held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Mrs. Tinubu expressed frustration over the limited resources available to her office, emphasizing the need for structured government backing.

Addressing journalists at the event, she appealed to her former colleagues in the Senate to provide legislative support and financial provisions for her office to carry out projects effectively.

“Most of the resources I use are donated by well-meaning Nigerians,” she said. “Whatever I receive is what I share with First Ladies across the states. It’s challenging. The government doesn’t fund my office. I rely heavily on collaboration, as you’ll see.”

Making her case for direct Senate support, she added: “I’m speaking to my Senate colleagues. My 12 years in the Senate shouldn’t be in vain if we can’t allow the First Lady to handle just one project a year. I’m not routing this through the Ministry of Women Affairs anymore. Like in the states, I’m going straight to the Senate.”

She continued, “We can run this like zonal intervention projects. Even if it’s N500 million or N1 billion, we’ll put it to good use and remain accountable. The First Lady should have the freedom to work. We don’t want to just sit in the Villa eating and doing nothing.”

Mrs. Tinubu stressed that her drive—and that of other state First Ladies—is to support their husbands' leadership and advocate for the vulnerable.

“We are wives, whatever you want to call us—domestic engineers or not—we want our husbands to succeed,” she explained. “They are the tree, and we must help keep that tree strong. So we step out to support them and the voiceless among us.”

She also criticized the contradiction between Nigeria’s poverty statistics and its culture of extravagance.

“We can’t say Nigeria is poor,” she said. “We’re blessed with resources. But we need the right mindset. Look at our parties—they can last an entire week. You’d wonder, is this a poor country? This culture might have started in royal palaces, but now every household hosts festivals. We need to be more mindful.”

Advocating for autonomy, she noted: “We could achieve more if proper funding is available. I’m appealing to my colleagues—give the Office of the First Lady its due recognition. If not for a First Lady, would there even be an office here? Even military regimes understood the importance and made provisions for their wives.”

Mrs. Tinubu highlighted the importance of realistic and sustainable public welfare programs. She clarified that all grants under her initiative are fully funded—not loans—and are designed to empower recipients to create lasting change.

As part of her environmental agenda, the First Lady launched the RHI Green Nigeria Challenge, a nationwide tree-planting competition aimed at fighting desert encroachment, especially in northern Nigeria.

“I want us to grow trees,” she said. “Traveling across the North, I noticed the absence of greenery. It’s mostly dry, treeless land. Yet, some tree species do survive in those conditions. We need urgent, collective action.”

To encourage participation, Mrs. Tinubu announced monetary incentives. Individual households could win up to N10 million, while communities working together might receive N100 million. The top-performing state will also receive N100 million.

She praised Enugu State as a model for environmental cleanliness and maintenance: “We are exempting Enugu. It’s clean and green—our model state. We’ll present them with an award and a financial reward,” she said.

In addition to environmental efforts, she unveiled the NITDA-RHI Women’s ICT Training Program for 2025, which will train 240 women—40 from each geopolitical zone. Each participant will receive a digital kit, including a laptop, bag, internet dongle, user manual, notebook, and a grant of N80,000, which she said may be increased to N100,000.

Meanwhile, Prof. Olufolake AbdulRazaq, First Lady of Kwara State and Chairperson of the Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum, reassured development partners and donors that their interventions are carefully designed to reach grassroots communities.

“We collect lists from all local governments to ensure full grassroots inclusion,” she stated. “Every senatorial district is represented, and healthcare programs are executed through primary healthcare centers to reach every locality.”

Monday’s stakeholder meeting came three months after the inaugural Renewed Hope Initiative meeting in March, where a N1.85 billion grant was announced to support entrepreneurs with disabilities nationwide.

The event was attended by Vice President’s wife Nana Shettima, as well as the spouses of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Senate President, and other state First Ladies.

Punch

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