‘Men’s involvement best way to stop violence against women’

Your organization reaches out to women and girls in rural areas, what is your take on the abducted Chibok girls?It is a very sad situation. The fact that a fellow human could think of abducting not one or two persons but nearly three hundred innocent adolescent girls makes one weep. We fear for the girl’s […]

Your organization reaches out to women and girls in rural areas, what is your take on the abducted Chibok girls?
It is a very sad situation. The fact that a fellow human could think of abducting not one or two persons but nearly three hundred innocent adolescent girls makes one weep. We fear for the girl’s safety. The members of Soroptimist Abuja have been participating in the ‘Bring back our girls rallies’ at the Unity square. We wear red  in addition to our yellow rosette .
 In Lagos we also had a  walk two weeks ago to the governor and we were not allowed to see him but he is aware.The federation that Nigeria belongs to is called Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland. Our federation has been issuing   releases in support of everything that we do to make sure the girls are released safely to their parents.
We feel that the slogans should actually be ‘bring back our daughters’ because they are our daughters  and you don’t have to be a mother to have a daughter.

Do you think it will in any way affect girl child education in the north?
The female child has been denied education. It was only in the nineteen hundreds in Europe and America that women were even allowed to vote. Before then the education of the male child came before the education of the female child. So  female children have not had the same access to education like their male counterparts.
In Africa it is worse and in Northern Nigerian it is even worse. Kudos to the parents of the abducted girls who allowed their girls to go to school but shame on us that they have been abducted . The girls’ abductors are trying to instill fear in people not to send their children to school.
 But the people will not be subjected to such threat. The women are saying those girls will continue to go to school because they believe in the education of the female child as it is the only visa out of poverty. When you educate a female child, you educate the nation because when a female child is educated she will ensure that her own children are educated.
The Chibok women are not threatened and if they are threatened in any way, we shall support and encourage them, and when these girls are returned, they will continue with their education. We at Soroptimist will do whatever we can to reassure the girls that they are doing the right thing and shouldn’t feel threatened.

Within the last two years that you have been the president of Soroptimist Abuja, how have you been able to impact on the life of women and girls?
By the grace of God and with the support of my fellow members, we have been able to do some  things . We have provided food stuff and household items to orphanages. We have given scholarships to indigent girls .
During the month of Ramadan we provide food items and clothing to the village of Karumajiji . We economically empowered a young widow who learnt hair dressing to set up her own business. We have also been on International Women Day walks to Nyanya village to make men aware that women are also human beings and stop violence against women.
We believe the best way to stop violence against women is to involve the men who mostly perpetrate the crime. That is why we appeal to them to understand that violence is not the answer.
More so, we provided water for Shibiri, a community on the outskirts of Abuja by using the  cooperate social responsibility of local companies. We have almost completed two classroom blocks with a little staff room for the primary school in the same community because the school lacks a staff room. The classroom project is more like my pet project and would be commissioned in July.
The physical environment and quality of education in our rural primary schools is deplorable. I appeal to government to pay attention to the education tax that corporations pay them and use it for the benefit of the children.
 The  deplorable state of our educational institutions from primary to tertiary needs to be looked at. The quality of young male and females from the university is dropping. In the 70’s someone with a B.Sc from Unilag can go to the London School of Economics, the best school in the world, you can’t do that today.
The primary school is also the foundation of education and efforts must be made to make our children get quality education from that level. In addition children should  know how to use the computer before they leave primary school.

Why do you think women should be involved in politics?
Half the population of Nigeria if not 55 percent are women that means women must have the vote, and if they must have the vote, women must be voted for. Traditionally women have been conditioned by the men to stay at home and not go into politics. But women do well in politics, they have done well as presidents in several countries.
Women should put away the fear of politics and become politically aware. It is important for women to participate in politics at all levels so that they can protect the interest of women and also enhance the status of women. We must be heard and the best way to be heard is to be participants.
Educated women must stand up and become heads of whatever profession they are in by so doing they pave way for women to be active in things concerning them that have been overlooked by men. Men cannot see a woman’s situation.

What tips would you give to women on balancing their careers and the home front?
Ironically, the best way to balance them is with the support of your husband. You need the cooperation of your husband to balance your career with your home, it is the best way. Unfortunately it is not many men that can abide by this.
 Where you have challenges balancing the two, I believe the home front comes first. Research has shown the home front suffers when women don’t pay a fair attention to the home. The home front  are our children. We need to nurture children at the early stages especially before the age of ten or before they enter secondary school.
They are like trees or plants if you don’t nurture them well, something will happen. Unfortunately some women fail in this. A lot of jobs are now being done on the internet. I encourage women to go for what will bring about economic value without disturbing the home front.
Soroptimist is an association that moves with the time, we now have internet meetings and do not confine ourselves to physical meetings. This helps young women who may not have time for physical meetings, and even our payment have electronic versions that gives donors, ease of payments.

Tell us about Soroptimist International?
It is an international NGO with over one million members worldwide. We have 16 clubs in Nigeria and  Soroptimist International Abuja is one of them. The organization started nearly a hundred years ago in America.  
At that time, there was already Rotary club and the wives of the Rotarians felt they should have their own NGO to cater for women, young girls and even children.
Between then and now, we have four federations and the fifth is going to be Soroptimist International of Africa . We held a conference in March this year in Pretoria South Africa to work out the modalities for this new federation. Our long term plan is to have our own federation in 2017. The new task force members that will bring about the birth of the new federation has about four Nigerians.