‘Giving up the girl -child is giving up future generations’
Can you describe your experience as the Director-General of the centre so far, especially coming from a sector that is different from this?Is it really different? It is not so different apart from the civil service area of it because I have been advocating for women, so it is a carryon of what I have […]
Can you describe your experience as the Director-General of the centre so far, especially coming from a sector that is different from this?
Is it really different? It is not so different apart from the civil service area of it because I have been advocating for women, so it is a carryon of what I have been doing. I have been speaking and singing about women issues. It has also been interesting to do it at this level, interesting is not necessarily an easy word to define because it encompasses every aspect of it, sometimes challenging, sometimes exhilarating. I am sure there is a lot to come and we are in the learning process.
We have started working on a developmental master plan to help the centre achieve its mandate. We have also started attending to programmes that are already on ground, strengthening them to ensure that we carry them out very well , we know our core areas of interest and we want to make sure that we carry out the remaining programmes on our table in a strong way before the year runs out.
What is your take on the 35% Affirmative Action?
It should be 50% or slightly higher. I believe there are more women in Nigeria than men. So 35% is a good way to start but we don’t want to end there. I liken the retardation of women’s involvement in the developmental process to going to war with one hand tied behind your back.
We are not doing women a favour by ensuring that they participate. We are doing ourselves collectively as a nation a huge favour by ensuring that women are part of this developmental process because we have a lot to do. We are at the grassroots, we are the people that take care of the family and community. We are involved in every area but are not recognized, not empowered or enabled. So if we want to achieve so much as a nation and are keeping 60% of the people away, it doesn’t make any sense.
How would you rate women’s participation in politics in the country?
We are getting better. It is a process, we can’t achieve it over night. The society as a whole is beginning to accept the fact that women should participate in politics.
Generally, Nigeria is a traditional society where women should be seen and not heard, they should be at home and in the kitchen but there is somehow a contradiction in the way we look at women because even though we are to be seen and not heard, when you trace back to the earlier days of Nigerian civilization, women have never had the luxury of staying at home. Be it working in the farm, women are always out there earning a living alongside the men. We earn a living, make the money, bring it home, buy and cook the food and also serve the food and clean up so if a man is doing two jobs, the woman is doing 10 jobs.
And what the Jonathan administration is saying and has done by appointing not just women but able and capable women is ‘let’s bring the women with their wealth of experience over the ages in managing the home,’ because we are good managers, a woman can manage an office more than a man because that is all she has done all her life. She can juggle things. She knows how to divide her time, she has commitment, focus and she is able to do 10, 20 jobs all at the same time.
You once contested for the position of a local government chairman, from your experience what mechanisms do you think should be put in place to address the problems confronting women in politics?
Chief among things we can do is to start from the political parties. It is not enough for some parties to introduce things like free forms for women. When political parties have women wings without men wings they are saying to the women that they only belong there. Women should belong everywhere. Within the political parties, when there is democracy, it tends to come out in everything else.
But if you limit women within the political party system, and they don’t get to become the flag bearers of the party, how are they going to win? First of all you have to go through the primaries, if political parties can give the concession that this administration has given, it will help because that is the most important part before you get to the general arena.
Your take on girl-child education?
The most important thing we can do for ourselves is to take care of the girl-child and the issues that the girl-child is confronted with today are so huge that they are not being prepared for the role of actualized women.
What do I mean? During my time, we didn’t have to deal with the issue of human trafficking, kidnapping or this level of the incidence of rape even by family members or in some cases complete breakdown of values.
I was raised by a widow, my mother was widowed for a second time at 36 and I was raised by this strong Nigerian woman who knew and monitored everything I was doing. If you came into the house with a pencil she did not buy, she knew and you would have to explain where you got that pencil from. Now parents say to their children ‘look at so and so person’s daughter, how they managed to build houses and bought cars for their parents, what are you doing?’ What message are you giving to that girl-child? You are telling her to go out and prostitute to take care of the family.
Along the line, our values and society have been messed up, but we must not give up. To give up on the girl-child is to give up on the future generation of this country. This girl-child confronted with ills and with no safety net to catch her when she falls, is one day going to be a mother and mother of future generation and that is why I am concerned.
I am glad the women centre focuses on the girl child and this is one area you are going to be hearing a lot from us. The problems are so huge that the centre can’t say it can solve the problems of women in this country alone, we are going to work with other agencies, partners, governments, NGOs to mention a few. We are ready to work with anybody or organization that is ready to help women.
How do you think the rising cases of violence against women and girls, can be addressed?
I don’t not agree that it is rising, it has always existed. It is just that now we are willing to discuss it. Maybe now more women are willing to come and say it is happening to me. I am no longer willing to take it. Our society is a male-oriented society, where it is believed that women are properties to be owned and we are opening up to say no.
To address it, there should be provision of shelters where women can run to for safety and help when they are abused or their lives are in danger.
Let us make sure that men that brutalise their wives or girlfriends are punished because it is a crime, no two ways about it especially the issue of rape.
One of the things I dealt with early in my career was a young woman called Charity who was one of the first known victims of acid bath. Her boyfriend bathed her with acid because she decided to leave him and totally disfigured her. A good number of people came out, we managed to raise funds for her, worked over a two year period and used the opportunity to bring it out to the public. She finally went to the United States where a Dr Ofodile, perhaps the best known skin surgeon was able to restore her.
No matter what we did at that time nothing was done to the young man who perpetrated the crime. If we begin to make sure that our laws work and are seen to work without any excuses like letting people off the hook because they are men, then we will discourage more people who think it is okay to harm women.
Will this work hamper your musical career?
Nothing stops me from doing what I was doing before. However, whatever I do now is tied to the centre, if crawling on my stomach will help me promote the centre I will do it. I will use whatever talent or opportunity God has given me, to promote the centre and help women.
Since this centre’s mandate is training of women in different skills, do you hope to include singing?
Why not ? I have been talking to my colleagues to come up with ideas and funding for us. In the US it is one of the highest income earners because it is entertainment. So why can’t we train women in acting or singing here? With these they can secure employment.