Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has announced a N2 billion Learners Retention Support Programme aimed at helping 100,000 pupils remain in school, with each beneficiary expected to receive N20,000 in financial assistance.
Tinubu made the announcement on Monday at the national flag-off ceremony for the distribution of two million packs of sanitary towels and back-to-school learning materials to girls in public basic education schools across Nigeria.
The event, held at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja, was organised to mark the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child.
The First Lady said no Nigerian girl should lose access to education or be prevented from achieving her potential because of menstrual hygiene challenges or her family’s inability to afford basic school supplies.
She explained that the intervention was designed to address barriers that force girls, particularly those in rural communities, to miss classes during menstruation.
“Keeping our girls in school requires us to recognise and address the challenges that affect their education, especially those in rural communities, who often miss school because they do not have access to sanitary products,” she said.
The sanitary towel distribution is part of Flow with Confidence 2.0, an initiative being implemented by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to improve school attendance and retention among girls.
Tinubu said the programme builds on the first phase of Flow with Confidence, launched by her Renewed Hope Initiative on October 2, 2025, which provided a year’s supply of disposable sanitary pads to 370,000 schoolgirls in rural communities.
She welcomed UBEC’s decision to take over and expand the initiative, noting that providing sanitary products alongside educational materials would help girls attend school with greater confidence and dignity.
The First Lady urged state First Ladies, education commissioners and chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Boards to ensure that the materials reach the intended beneficiaries through a transparent and accountable distribution process.
She also called on traditional rulers, religious leaders, parents and other community stakeholders to address the stigma surrounding menstruation and encourage families to prioritise girls’ education.
Addressing the pupils, she urged them to remain focused on their ambitions and seek help whenever necessary, adding that the country needed confident and courageous young women who could contribute meaningfully to national development.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the Federal Government was working to make menstrual hygiene support a permanent feature of its basic education interventions.
Alausa recalled that he had pledged to institutionalise the programme through UBEC and the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) when the first phase was launched in 2025.
He said UBEC would include sanitary towel supplies in its annual budgets, while AGILE would continue supporting menstrual hygiene throughout the duration of its project.
The minister added that the initial target of reaching 370,000 adolescent girls had been achieved, with the latest intervention expected to extend support to more pupils nationwide.
The Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Ahmad, described the programme as a commitment to protecting the dignity of girls and ensuring that menstruation does not interrupt their education.
In her remarks, UBEC Executive Secretary, Aisha Garba, said practical interventions could help prevent circumstances beyond a girl’s control from limiting her future.
She announced that the two million packs of sanitary towels would be distributed alongside school bags, shoes, exercise books, mathematical sets and writing materials to girls in public basic education schools across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Garba also said UBEC had constructed more than 4,000 classrooms in less than three years, distributed learning materials to over three million pupils and helped return more than 700,000 out-of-school children to the classroom.
Chairman of the UBEC Governing Board, Tanko Al-Makura, said the intervention was important in reducing school dropouts and protecting girls from the risk of early marriage.
He noted that girls from low-income households were often the first to lose access to education when families experienced financial difficulties, stressing that school dropout and child marriage were closely connected.
Al-Makura pledged the board’s support for monitoring the distribution to ensure the materials reach the intended recipients.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, represented by the Emir of Argungu, Samaila Mera, also called for efforts to eliminate misconceptions and harmful practices that prevent children from accessing education.
He urged community leaders, parents and teachers to ensure that menstruation does not become an obstacle to learning and that the materials are distributed fairly.
In a goodwill message, Education Lead at the British High Commission, Ian Attfield, said investment in girls’ education produces significant social and economic benefits. He noted that each additional year of schooling increases women’s earnings by an average of 12 per cent.
Attfield added that UK-supported programmes had helped more than 1.5 million additional girls access education in northern Nigeria since 2012. He also highlighted the $1.2 billion AGILE programme, which supports expanded access to secondary education for girls in 21 states, alongside empowerment and science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives.
The ceremony featured a stage play titled Daughters of the Nation, which highlighted challenges facing girls and the need to protect their rights, dignity and educational opportunities.
