The Association of Nigerian Female Students (ANFS) has endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima for a second time period in 2027, urging the federal authorities to strengthen insurance policies on women’ schooling, scholar welfare and girls’s financial empowerment.
The affiliation introduced its place on the National Female Students Conference held on the Women Development Centre in Abuja, the place stakeholders mentioned academic entry, management improvement, scholar welfare and financial alternatives for feminine college students.
Speaking on the convention, the National President of ANFS, Comrade Peter Attracta Precious, stated the endorsement was knowledgeable by authorities insurance policies and programmes that the affiliation believes might develop academic alternatives and enhance the welfare of feminine college students.
She stated the affiliation’s help was primarily based on its desire for continuity in insurance policies affecting schooling and girls’s improvement, whereas calling for improved implementation and accountability.
“Our support is therefore forward-looking. We want to see existing opportunities strengthened, implementation gaps addressed and more attention given to female students who remain vulnerable to educational and economic exclusion,” she stated.
The affiliation recognized the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a serious intervention able to serving to college students overcome monetary limitations to larger schooling.
It famous that the scholar mortgage software portal opened in May 2024, whereas disbursements started in February 2025. According to the affiliation, NELFUND’s printed affect dashboard had reported roughly 440,000 feminine beneficiaries.
ANFS stated the scheme might allow eligible college students from financially deprived backgrounds to pursue college schooling and different accredited tertiary programmes.
“When a young woman has the intellectual capacity to become a doctor, accountant, lawyer, engineer or technology professional, her family’s financial circumstances should not automatically determine whether she can pursue that dream,” the affiliation acknowledged.
It, nevertheless, referred to as for improved accessibility, well timed disbursement, transparency and monitoring to make sure that eligible feminine college students perceive the applying course of and the scheme’s phrases and circumstances.
The affiliation additionally acknowledged interventions by the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, via the Renewed Hope Initiative, notably programmes addressing menstrual hygiene and women’ college attendance.
It cited the Flow with Confidence initiative, launched in October 2025, which supplied a one-year provide of sanitary pads to roughly 370,000 schoolgirls in rural communities.
It additionally referenced a federal authorities announcement in October 2026 on the distribution of two million packs of sanitary towels and studying supplies to ladies in public primary schooling colleges.
According to ANFS, menstrual poverty stays a barrier to ladies’ schooling, affecting attendance, confidence and participation in classroom actions.
“A girl should not have to miss classes because she cannot afford a basic menstrual hygiene product,” the affiliation stated, urging the federal government to make sure clear distribution, efficient monitoring and sustained entry to important hygiene merchandise.
ANFS additional highlighted various schooling programmes designed to help women whose education had been interrupted by poverty, early being pregnant, early marriage and social stigma.
It cited the Empower Girls Osun initiative and the renovation of the Alternative High School for Girls in Agboju, Lagos State, as interventions geared toward widening entry to schooling.
The affiliation additionally recognised the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), a World Bank-supported programme carried out in partnership with the Nigerian authorities to enhance women’ entry to secondary schooling, digital literacy and life abilities.
Although the programme predates the present administration, ANFS stated its continued implementation remained necessary to efforts to enhance women’ academic outcomes.
It equally highlighted the Nigeria for Women Programme, together with an enlargement introduced in February 2026, as related to ladies’s financial participation and the preparation of feminine college students for entrepreneurship and monetary independence.
The affiliation urged the federal government to strengthen programmes on digital literacy, science, know-how, engineering and arithmetic (STEM), vocational coaching, baby safety and financial empowerment.
It additionally listed improved scholar financing, high quality schooling, secure studying environments, safety in opposition to gender-based violence, menstrual well being and better participation of feminine college students in policymaking amongst its priorities.
ANFS referred to as for stronger collaboration among the many Ministries of Education and Women Affairs, academic establishments, improvement companions and scholar organisations, stressing that feminine college students ought to have a voice in selections affecting their welfare and academic development.
“Equality must not remain a slogan. It must be reflected in access to education, protection from harmful practices, opportunities for leadership and the ability of girls to pursue their ambitions,” the nationwide president added.
The affiliation maintained that its endorsement of the Tinubu-Shettima ticket wouldn’t diminish its accountability to advocate for feminine college students, insisting that coverage continuity should be accompanied by measurable progress and efforts to shut implementation gaps.
Earlier, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, reaffirmed the Federal Government’s dedication to creating equal alternatives for feminine college students throughout the nation.
She stated President Tinubu had prioritised baby improvement, baby safety and scholar welfare, figuring out the scholar mortgage scheme as one of many initiatives serving to college students from totally different backgrounds, together with orphans, entry larger schooling.
The minister urged feminine college students to pursue financial empowerment, pointing to alternatives in agriculture, cell companies, the fuel sector and on-line companies.
She additionally stated the federal government was strengthening the care economic system to make sure that unpaid care work carried out by ladies was recognised and valued.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim disclosed that memoranda on menstrual hygiene, the care economic system and violence in opposition to kids have been being offered to the Federal Executive Council.
The convention additionally featured the election of latest nationwide executives, with Comrade Okwuchukwu Joy rising because the affiliation’s new president.
ANFS stated the convention supplied a platform to handle challenges confronting feminine college students, together with campus security, gender-based violence, college retention and entry to financial alternatives.
It additionally highlighted the launch of its journal as a method of amplifying feminine college students’ voices, showcasing their achievements and offering data on lecturers, mentorship, entrepreneurship and advocacy.
The affiliation referred to as on authorities companies and different stakeholders to maintain collaboration with feminine college students’ organisations to make sure that no lady was left behind in Nigeria’s schooling system.
It stated funding in women’ schooling and girls’s empowerment remained important to nationwide improvement, reaffirming its guideline: “One Voice. One Movement. One Future.”
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