The wife of the Governor of Niger State, Hajiya Fatima Umar Bago, has urged women to embrace entrepreneurship skills in order to empower themselves and be self-reliant.
Hajiya Fatima Bago stated this while addressing participants at the 2024 International Women's Day Celebration, held at the women's centre in Minna on Friday.
She said the day was an avenue to celebrate themselves, noting that women have so much dedication in them that whatever they set out to do, they do it with so much passion.
The first lady, who did not hide her happiness over the women's day celebration, observed that involving women by the state governor in his administration was a very good strategy for achieving the New Niger Agenda.
She added that from the business exhibition she witnessed, she had observed that women have a lot of skills that can uplift their economic status, promising that she will work on incorporating women's entrepreneurship into her pet project.
The First Lady also disclosed that since the inception of the present administration under the leadership of Farmer Governor Mohammed Umar Bago, women have been carried along and will continue to be carried along, urging the women to keep enduring and persevering as the sky will be their limit, even as she appreciated the Governor for the recognition given to women in his government.
In her remarks also, the state commissioner for women affairs and social development, Hajiya Titi Auta, said women in Niger State have every reason to celebrate because the present administration has carried them along.
She said apart from appointments into various political offices, the state government, through her ministry, has been doing a lot to empower women economically and improve their lot through training and business linkages.
The Commissioner also appreciated the First Lady and the Farmer Governor for his passion for women, which was evidenced in his appointment of women into political offices, assuring that the women appointees would use their appointments to complement the Governor's efforts towards the realisation of the New Niger Agenda.
Highlights of the celebration were a walk from the famous Mobil Roundabout through Ƙetaren-Gwari to the Women Centre complex at the Old Secretariat, Minna, as well as a business exhibition and interaction between the women entrepreneurs and the First Lady.  
This year's celebration has the theme "Count Her In: Accelerating Gender Equality Through Economic Empowerment."