Most of my books are on women issues – Ex-minister

What inspired you to become a writer? I will not say that literary work is something I started from the beginning. My background is education and I believe as an educationist, you can venture into a number of areas and for me it is literary works. During my days in school, I was a member […]

What inspired you to become a writer?

I will not say that literary work is something I started from the beginning. My background is education and I believe as an educationist, you can venture into a number of areas and for me it is literary works. During my days in school, I was a member of the debating society. I am really passionate about writing because I read a lot. I read everything that is in the paper, fiction, religion because I believe that by reading you learn more and through learning you become very creative, understand different things from different perspectives and even develop your own ideas.

Can you tell us about your new book?

Actually my first book, Women and National Development: The Way Forward  which I wrote in 2001, is becoming an educational reference material. There are two universities in the United States of America that are already using it as a reference book on African women studies. Most of my writings are on women issues because I want to promote women and their potentials. I also believe that whatever women are doing should be made visible because with visibility comes power. We want women to be recognised and seen as contributors to national development and we should be able to do everything possible to utilise the reservoir of potentials of resources of women so that they can equally contribute to the development of the society.
On the issue of First Ladyship and Empowerment Programmes in Nigeria, I believe that people don’t really have interest nor do they really understand what first ladyship is all about. So, there is the need for us to bring the issue of first ladyship and what they do in their positions as the wives of heads of government into the open. We are not just starting it in Nigeria, this is something that started in the United States of America. So I think the contributions of Nigerian first ladies should be given equal recognition and people should find time to really study and know the content and context from which these first ladies are coming from. I had already carried out a scholarly work on first ladyship, which was my first motivation. Based on the challenges, I have also been able to come up with some recommendations that will improve the institution not only in Nigeria but in Africa. I hope people will find the time to go through the book and understand the content of the book and also understand the context from where I am coming from and know that this is important and relevant to our society.

What kind of impact do you hope the book will have on Nigerian women?

Definitely it will make a lot of impact because women generally will be motivated to see that everyone has a role to play in terms of being our sister’s keepers in terms of educating others on women development. For example, when we look at the issues of political empowerment, just like what is being championed by our current first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. She has taken it under her Women for Change Initiative and her focus now is mobilising and sensitizing women to come out and participate in politics. All what we are canvassing for is more women in decision making positions which will now translate to more women in leadership positions. So my book is now a big challenge to women, to know that each of us have a role to play and to look in what areas we can contribute individually and collectively.

How do you think we can tackle the problems associated with continuity and sustainability of these programmes?

Soon after the first ladies leave office, their programmes also leave with them or even die. A typical example is Maryam Babangida’s Better Life Programme for Rural Women (BLPRW ) and Maryam Abacha’s Family Support Programme (FSP)and Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP). What really happened is an issue I treated in my book under challenges and recommendations. All the first ladies empowerment programmes were being operated as semi official programmes because they were being implemented under a government structure while they were still in office. But in terms of sustainability, Hon Justice Fati Abubakar was very smart because when she got into office she got her programme, Women’s Right Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) registered as an NGO to alley the fear of disappearance or not being sustained. But much later on Maryam Babangida went back to register her programme as an NGO and renamed it as Better Life for African Women in the Rural Areas.

The late Maryam Babangida’s BLPRW is known to have made a lot of impact in the rural areas; do you think that was what made it very popular?

Well, yes the Better Life and Family Support Programmes touched the lives of the rural women because that is where the problem is. When we empower a rural woman, the impact will be more. These kinds of programmes have been more or less following a political system of top down instead of down top policy system. The planning and implementation of these programmes should involve the beneficiaries who are the rural women. Their targets are always the rural women but unless we get the commitment and involvement of the rural woman from the planning stage to the implementation, it will never work. And that will contribute to lack of sustainability. I personally feel that why some of these programmes didn’t actually get to the grass root is because the people who are suppose to benefit from the programme were not involved from the beginning period.     

What do you think is lacking in the youths of this generation and how can they contribute to Nation building?

I think the youths of this generation are always in a hurry and they want to get it quick. They don’t sit down to define what they want and go for it. You need to have a vision and dream because that is what will guide you to set a target and objective so you can achieve your goal. Most importantly, you have to ask yourself who you want to be. You have to set a target or a time frame and know what you want to achieve. You also have to think of how you hope to reach the target level and to what benefit will you be to yourself, family and the society at large. Set up an objective that is smart, an objective that is realistic and achievable. So my advice to the youths is that they should be focused, hard working and very determined. They should also not be in a hurry.