‘Women are key to peace in Nigeria’

What inspired you into establishing WOPIN?As a woman with a large heart and clear understanding of the two major religions, Islam and Christianity, it saddens my heart to see our people killing themselves in the name of fighting for God. I have a strong belief, which I am certain many people do have, that, animosity, […]

What inspired you into establishing WOPIN?
As a woman with a large heart and clear understanding of the two major religions, Islam and Christianity, it saddens my heart to see our people killing themselves in the name of fighting for God. I have a strong belief, which I am certain many people do have, that, animosity, mistrust, acrimony and gruesome killings of one another will not take this country anywhere. Developed nations in Europe and America which we always appreciate and try to emulate, did not reach their levels of progress and civilisation, through such senseless and unmindful killings of their own people under whatever guise.
So, by and large, my motive and that of all my supporting staff is purely humanistic, patriotic, and in line with what Almighty God ordained in our religious scriptures, which is the sanctity of human life, understanding  one another, love, affection and  providing help to one another, among others.
We started our activities in 1998 after the Zangon Kataf sectarian violence in Kaduna state, in which many innocent lives were lost, especially women, children and the aged.
That crises had been the genesis of our efforts towards maintaining peace, conflict resolution and mutual understanding among our diverse nationalities in Kaduna state. The organisation has now become a success story with chapters all over the country. I believe that there is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it. So I established WOPIN to preach and advocate for peace, harmony, mutual coexistence and assist orphans, vulnerable children and the needy.
How best can women who are mostly vulnerable promote peace in the country?
One thing is to involve women in peace processes and women should be involved in any decision that has to do with peace so that they can contribute their quota to it. They shouldn’t be neglected. In conflict situations, women and children suffer most because they suffer trauma through rape and many other things. Orphans and widows are mostly vulnerable and that is why we are advocating that women should be involved in peace processes so that we can at least give some ideas.
It is not all crises that needs confrontation. There are some crises that need mediation which can be resolved amicably without confrontation. Women should be carried along in terms of peace processes.
When God created Adam and sent him to the earth, he deemed it proper to give him assistance and a helper by creating Eve. The original intention was for them to jointly work as a team. That is why it is important to put women right and guide their product on how to achieve relative peace and comfort during their life span.
 However, due to domineering attitude and quest for power by the men who are the product of women, they relegated women to the background. We have now reached the age when the entire world is realizing the importance of women in contributing towards human development. We are witnessing gradual involvement of women in the affair of states by the level of involvement of women in decision-making processes.
In view of violence that has engulfed a part of Nigeria, what will you say are the specific roles of women in peace-building?
It is the responsibility of all of us to take action in supporting culture of peace based on the universal value of respect for life, justice, solidarity, human rights and equality. We need to do much more to achieve peace for all. Women and children are dying; peace is much more than the absence of war and conflicts. Peace cannot be achieved without justice, alleviation of poverty and inequality is also one of the major challenges. In this regard, the government should promote sustainable economic and social development, reducing inequality and contributing to poverty alleviation.
You are participating in the on-going National Conference and each delegate represents diverse interests, what interest will you say you represent?
For me, I try to look at Nigeria as my agenda. People have different agenda but I tell others to keep their personal agenda aside so that we can collectively look at the agenda which is Nigeria. Nigeria is my agenda; I am looking at the future of Nigeria.
I went into the conference having Nigeria at heart because I feel that if any part of the country is sick, it affects the whole country. One hundred years have gone. What have we achieved and what are we going to prepare for posterity in the next 100 years? Many are speculating that Nigeria will break by 2015, are we going to allow it to happen? God forbid Nigeria to break. Those agitating that Nigeria should break will see Nigeria as one and we are going to remain as one.
How would your participation in the conference help the cause of women?
We need to propose some issues to be included in the constitution like women in crisis situations especially widows and orphans. The issue of indigeneship is still a very big issue we need to critically look at. Nigerians can live in any part of the federation with all rights and privileges any citizen deserve.
Most Nigerians still believe in indigeneship. People still go to their place of origin to get indigeneship certificates before they get something in the country. It shouldn’t be like that. Don’t also forget that many Nigerian women also suffer from this. First, many of them cannot contest for election where they are born because they have been married elsewhere.
Whereas, they are not being allowed to contest even where they are married to because they were not born there. So these are issues we hope to address with my participation in the conference.
Do you think this conference is a solution to Nigeria’s numerous challenges?
There are many issues on ground; we need to look at the beginning of our 100 years of existence from our founding fathers. We need to look at issues surrounding the many challenges we are facing. We need to identify those issues and once the issues are identified, we can now start talking about solutions. Mr. President has done well by calling this conference so that we dialogue. The selection of Nigerians for this event is a very unique one because everybody is represented.
It is not easy at all bringing people like that together. We are all there to ensure that we try to contribute our own quota to the development of Nigeria. I am sure that by His grace we will try to do
our best. Ordinary Nigerians do not have problem with each other because they see each other as siblings and they interact peacefully as neigbours and colleagues. The problem is our elites.
How do you mean the elites are the problems?
The elite focuses on how to loot our national resources and whenever there is conflict, they turn back to the ordinary person. They amass wealth for their immediate family and they don’t care about their neighbour who doesn’t have anything to feed on. The elites are the causes of problems in Nigeria.
There are people who are of the opinions that the conference might fail because certain personalities at the conference don’t even believe in its success, how true is this?
People have the right to say what they have seen or feel but for me if they are there, they will know that God really wants to change this country for the better because it is an open place where everybody is allowed to talk and say whatever he or she feels. There are people who really have done bad things and they want to correct such. Those who have wronged the country in the past find the conference as an opportunity to correct anomaly of the past and I think they should be allowed to make amends.
What should women and youth look out for at the end of this conference?
I hope and wish that the outcome of the conference will make women to be better protected and women involved in peace process. I am proposing that a Ministry of Family or Family Affairs ministry should be created where the youths and women will be together as one family.
It should have a Director of Orphans and Vulnerable, Director of Women Affairs and Director of Youth Affairs and this should be headed by one minister because we are all families. There should also be a director of men. It will reduce lots of stress.