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Former Rivers State Governor and African Democratic Congress presidential running mate, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed that his administration paid pregnant women N10,000 each to encourage them to attend antenatal care as part of measures to reduce maternal and child mortality in the state.
Amaechi made the disclosure on Tuesday while speaking at the Her Health, Her Power Conference Africa 2026 in Abuja, where he reflected on initiatives introduced during his tenure as governor to improve healthcare access and outcomes for women.
He said Rivers State faced a serious maternal and child health challenge at the time, prompting his administration to establish healthcare centres across communities and strengthen their staffing.
“If you follow what happened in Rivers State when I was a governor, we were rated second on the maternal-child mortality index, and to cure that, we had to establish health centres in every village,” Amaechi said.
According to him, the healthcare centres were staffed with doctors and nurses, while pregnant women who attended antenatal clinics received N10,000 as an incentive.
“Each village has a medical centre; we employed two doctors and nurses, while we paid N10,000 per woman that went for antenatal, so our health centres were full every Friday because they were sure of going home with N10,000,” he said.
Amaechi explained that the financial incentive was designed to encourage pregnant women to seek regular antenatal services, arguing that improving maternal healthcare could also have broader economic implications.
“They are not coming there for their health but for the money, and that N10,000 is economy. It’s key that we can’t separate the health of women from economic growth,” he said.
The former governor also called for increased investment in women’s healthcare and education, stressing that economic conditions directly affect women’s wellbeing and their ability to contribute to development.
“In a global economy like that of Nigeria, 40 per cent of women are farmers, so we need to do more as politicians to see that women live healthier,” he said.
Amaechi, who served as Rivers State governor from 2007 to 2015, further emphasised the importance of educating women, arguing that greater access to education could strengthen leadership and development outcomes.
“No matter how much grammar we speak in our different states as governors, we need to do more for our women, and another thing we need to do is to make sure that they get educated; they make better leaders when they are educated,” he added.
He urged policymakers to adopt more practical interventions that address the health, economic and educational needs of women, particularly those in vulnerable communities.
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