THE POLITICS OF EMPOWERMENT: Empowerment or Charity?

Date: June 15, 2025

By: Comr. Chukwu Abia Chikaodiri|Grassrootsmirro 

In a country brimming with youthful energy, intellectual brilliance, and untapped potential like Nigeria, the idea of “empowerment” should be a national priority. But instead, it has become a political buzzword — often misused, misunderstood, and tragically abused.

Every election cycle, we see it: "empowerment" programs popping up like mushrooms after the rain — politicians distributing grinding machines, bags of rice, hairdryers, ₦5,000 envelopes, wrappers, and sometimes, even live chickens. The question is: Is this empowerment — or charity dressed in political costume?

Let’s take a closer look at “The Politics of Empowerment” and why the difference between genuine empowerment and strategic charity matters more than ever.

Empowerment or Charity: What’s the Difference?

Before diving into the politics, let’s set the record straight:

Charity is giving people short-term aid to relieve their immediate suffering. It’s often emotional, quick, and temporary.

Empowerment is equipping people with the skills, resources, access, and confidence they need to become self-reliant, productive, and powerful contributors to society.

Empowerment builds capacity; charity reinforces dependency.

So, when a politician hands out ₦10,000 and calls it empowerment, we must ask: Is it really? Or is it a vote-buying tactic masked as benevolence?

How Empowerment Became Political Theatre

Empowerment has been hijacked by political interests. Here’s how it works in Nigeria:

1. Theatrics Over Substance
   During campaigns or public events, officials launch flashy “empowerment schemes” with banners, speeches, and media coverage. But after the cameras go off, beneficiaries are left with no structure, no follow-up, and no sustainable outcome.

2. Tokenism Over Transformation
   Politicians prefer symbolic gestures — giving out handouts to a few people rather than investing in systems that benefit many. It's easier to hand out 100 sewing machines than to build a vocational institute that can train thousands.

3. Control Over Independence
   Charity creates dependence. Empowerment breeds independence. Many political actors fear truly empowered citizens — especially youths and women — because empowered people ask questions, demand accountability, and stop voting based on rice bags.

The Hidden Costs of Political Charity

While charity may seem compassionate, it carries long-term risks:

• It delays development. If the masses are pacified with peanuts, there’s no pressure on the government to fix structural issues like education, electricity, or job creation.
• It insults dignity. Nigerians don’t want to beg — they want to thrive. Reducing people to beggars in exchange for votes or loyalty is dehumanizing.
• It promotes poverty politics. Politicians use poverty as a tool to control the people — the poorer the populace, the more they can be manipulated with crumbs.

Youth and Women: Political Pawns or Nation Builders?

The biggest targets of these “empowerment” theatrics are Nigerian youths and women — the two largest yet most marginalized groups.

The Youth Trap

Despite their innovation and energy, Nigerian youths are often given the lowest investment and the highest promises. Politicians brandish youth programs, but rarely invest in:

• Tech hubs or skills centers.
• Job placement programs.
• Access to low-interest business loans.

Instead, they receive training on how to make soap, or bags of rice “for support.”

Women as Vote Banks

Women, particularly in rural areas, are seen as dependable mobilizers and vote influencers. Politicians often use women groups as tools for electoral success, rewarding them with wrappers, small cash, or cooking oil — not with access to credit, land, education, or leadership roles.

What Real Empowerment Should Look Like

If the political class is sincere about empowerment, here’s what they should be doing:

1. Policy-Driven Investment
   Empowerment should be enshrined in law and policy, not just an event or project. Nigeria needs long-term strategies for education, business support, and digital access.

2. Youth Inclusion in Governance
   Not just as SA on Social Media, but in legislative and executive decision-making roles with real power and responsibilities.

3. Institutionalized Skills Development
   Building and funding vocational schools, innovation labs, and tech clusters that offer modern, scalable skills training.

4. Access to Capital
   Provide women and youth with non-political access to grants, loans, and mentorship to run their businesses and projects.

5. Accountable Metrics
   Every empowerment initiative must have measurable outcomes. How many businesses survived? How many jobs were created? Was poverty reduced?

The Role of the People: From Passive to Powerful

Politicians only give charity because it works. When citizens accept bags of rice as the price of their vote, they endorse a system that keeps them in chains.

To break the cycle:

• Demand structure, not souvenirs.
• Ask for schools, not stoves.
• Vote for builders, not benefactors.

Empowerment is your right as a citizen, not a gift from a politician.

The Time for Real Empowerment Is Now

Nigeria doesn’t lack resources or ideas — it lacks sincerity and vision in leadership. The time has come to reject performative “empowerment” that ends in a media photo-op and start demanding transformational change that builds capacity, independence, and true national progress.

The politics of empowerment must evolve — from stage-managed charity to sincere nation-building. Because a truly empowered people do not just survive; they thrive, lead, and transform their society.