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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Culture & Society

VC tasks Abia women on empowerment schemes

From The Punch · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike Vice Chancellor Ursula Ngozi-Akanwa urged Abia women to use state empowerment programmes to grow their businesses.
  • She highlighted grants, skills training, housing support, healthcare and other initiatives offered by the state government.
  • Speaking at the 2026 Abia Women August Delegate Conference, she called on women to pursue education, mentorship and economic independence.

Abia women should use government empowerment programmes to build thriving businesses rather than focus only on survival, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike Vice Chancellor Ursula Ngozi-Akanwa said.

Ngozi-Akanwa delivered the keynote address at the 2026 Abia Women August Delegate Conference, whose theme was “Abia Women: Empowered to Thrive.” She described the theme as the culmination of a four-year effort to teach women how to grow their businesses.

What happens when a woman is given not only a hand to hold, but the knowledge, confidence, opportunity, support and platform to stand on her own business? She does not merely change her life. She changes a family. She changes a community. She changes the economy.

— Ursula Ngozi-AkanwaThe vice chancellor described the wider effects of women’s economic empowerment.

She praised Governor Alex Otti and his wife, Priscilla Otti, for programmes covering skills acquisition, business grants, support for indigent widows and advocacy against gender-based violence. She also cited investments in infrastructure, healthcare and education, along with the Safe Tent Care Initiative and the Ahiaoma Women Economic Empowerment Programme.

“What happens when a woman is given not only a hand to hold, but the knowledge, confidence, opportunity, support and platform to stand on her own business?” Ngozi-Akanwa asked. “She does not merely change her life. She changes a family. She changes a community. She changes the economy.”

To survive is to endure, to cope and to manage. To thrive is to flourish, to prosper, to grow, and to fulfil one’s potential.

— Ursula Ngozi-AkanwaShe distinguished the conference’s goal of economic growth from mere survival.

She told participants that empowerment also required personal initiative. “Government alone cannot do it all. Thriving requires that we take ownership of our own empowerment,” she said, urging women to support and mentor one another, pursue education and skills training, and promote peace in their homes.

The conference brought together the governor’s wife, representatives of the Ministry of Women Affairs, traditional rulers and women leaders from Abia’s 17 local government areas.

Government alone cannot do it all. Thriving requires that we take ownership of our own empowerment.

— Ursula Ngozi-AkanwaShe called on women to combine public programmes with their own efforts and mutual support.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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