Oluremi Tinubu parleys monarchs, religious leaders in Lagos

The Nigerian First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, Friday, met with religious leaders and traditional rulers in Lagos State during the first day of her three-day official visit to the nation’s commercial city.

The interactive meeting, held at the Lagos State Governor’s residence in Marina, afforded the First Lady the opportunity to interact with opinion leaders at the grassroots on the impacts of her Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) in Lagos and other states of the federation.

The event was attended by All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders and National Assembly lawmakers in the state, Lagos cabinet officials and members of Governance Advisory Council (GAC).

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led members of the state’s entourage to welcome the wife of the President to the State House.

Senator Tinubu was accompanied by the wife of the Vice President, Hajia Nana Shettima and wife of the Chief of Staff to the President, Salamatu Gbajabiamila.

The traditional rulers were led by Chairman of Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs, Oba of Lagos, Alayeluwa Rilwanu Akiolu, who was represented by his vice and Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Kabiru Shotobi.

The forum served as a feedback platform for the First Lady to gauge the impacts of the RHI flagship programmes at the grassroots and intimate the gathering about ongoing interventions her Office has been doing in Lagos.

Sanwo-Olu, in his opening remarks, said that the traditional and religious leaders were critical stakeholders in grassroots governance, noting that the opinion leaders were the closest contacts to the citizens.

The governor also said that Senator Tinubu had brought hope to the vulnerable and the elderly through the Renewed Hope Initiative, stressing that the First Lady conceived the project with the goal to lift citizens, regardless of their political, economic and ethnic backgrounds.

“Over the last two years, the First Lady has birthed new initiatives and ideas to drive Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu across communities in the country, leveraging the influence of her office to bring the desired results. The Renewed Hope Initiative is next to none in the volume of interventions and impacts. Through RHI, Sen. Tinubu has activated a lot of programmes to meet the needs of the vulnerable people at the grassroots.

“The impacts are being felt across the geopolitical regions of our country. These positive impacts have energised a new era of grassroots engagement and empowerment; many lives have been touched across the nooks and crannies of the country. All of these have been done without any financial contribution from the government’s purse.

“The First Lady has driven this initiative through her influence, contact, passion and commitment to supporting our communities. She has done this without any political coloration or affiliation. Opposition states are feeling the impacts of the Renewed Hope Initiative the same way APC states have benefited. This shows that the motive behind RHI was not political, but a compassionate action taken to make life better for citizens who need support,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Tinubu gave an elaborate explanation about a series of programmes and interventions being implemented by her Office in Lagos, noting that the First Lady Office, through RHI, had distributed 100,000 education materials to pupils across Lagos schools, including N1 million scholarship and laptops.

Lagos, the First Lady pointed out, also got 140 scholarships through the Federal Ministry of Education Bursaries programme of 2024, adding that the state had benefited from RHI school renovation projects.