By Sani Idris

Mrs Olanike Olugboji-Daramola, the founder and Executive Director of Women Initiative for Sustainable Environment (WISE), an NGO, says the organisation has positively impacted on the lives of more than 120,000 women in Nigeria.

Olugboji-Daramola stated this while speaking to newsmen at the sideline of the 2024 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration on Saturday in Kaduna.

The founder said that WISE had promoted constructive environmental ideals and practices through empowering women to become stewards of natural resources and climate actors peace builders.

She recalled that the NGO, which was launched in 2004, focused on water sanitation and hygiene, food security and access to clean cooking energy which is on the front burner for the NGO.

Olugboji-Daramola lamented that over the years, a lot of women were exposed to hazards from their traditional methods of cooking.

“One of the reports that caught our attention was the World Health Organisation’s reports which said Nigeria tops the list of countries where women were dying annually from smoke related illnesses,” she said.

The Executive Director said the NGO was concerned about the many challenges women face in terms of accessing natural resources and safeguarding them.

“Over the years the women’s voices have been missing from the decision making tables.

”They are however able to take actions by either creating their own spaces to make changes or becoming authors of their own change.

“Women should stop emphasising they are being marginalised, that is an expired message.

”We should be authors of our own change, if we are not called to the decision making tables, then we must create ours,” she said.

Speaking further, Olugboji-Daramola listed WISE programmes such as the women’s clean cooking training and entrepreneurship project.

Others are financial literacy, green micro financing project, bridge and bank climate smart farming project or the tree growing enterprise for food security and climate resilience project among
others.

She stressed that all the programmes were geared towards equipping women with the knowledge, information,
skills, and seed capital that they need.

To make sure the women don’t remain passive recipients of solutions that have been coined without their involvement, the Executive Director said all their projects integrate and explore women’s leadership, personal agency, economic development, and peer mentoring.

She hoped that in the future, WISE would be able to serve as many as 20, 000 women annually.

“We believe that the more informed women get, the more equipped they are financially and in terms of skills, the better the society will be.

“The call for women’s empowerment is therefore not a contest between men and women, but a call for partnership, a call for a society where everybody’s voice counts, where we know that We all need each other.

“By inspiring understanding and appreciation for investment
in women and women’s inclusion, we contribute to creating a better world,” she said.

She urged women to call for inclusive investment that would unleash
their agency and give them a profound sense of belonging, relevance, and
empowerment.

One of the beneficiaries of WISE mentorship and training, Mrs Patricia Kendikkens, said before she got introduced to the NGO, she had engaged in businesses that had never yielded anything rather than loss.

“The business I did last before meeting WISE was storage of ginger. I took a loan from a cooperative and invested in it, that year ginger fell far below cost price and I was only able to get not up to ten per cent of my capital,”she said.

Kendikkens, who doubles as an entrepreneur under WISE, added that when she met WISE and was picked for a training, she was empowered with locally made stoves after the training.

“I was wondering what I will do with those stoves. They are heavy; I wondered how I could be going about with them, i became tired of the frequently asked questions by women on why I was trying to take them back to medieval days.

“I never gave up, I persevered until I sold them all and rendered the money. I over time began buying the clean cook stoves. There is no geopolitical zone in this country that I have not sold it to,”Kendikkens said.

She said she now has her own women group, courtesy of WISE that empowered her to also empower other women.

She thanked WISE for the opportunity, while calling on individuals or organisations to invest in women for a better society and sustainable living.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the WISE IWD celebration, which had hundreds of women in attendance, featured competitions, raffle draws and fashion parade, among others.(NAN)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

By Naomi Sharang

The Leader of Women of Integrity National Assembly (WIN), Mrs Hassana Danjuma, has called for inclusion of more women in politics and other spheres of life.

Danjuma made the call at an event to mark the 2024 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration in Abuja on Saturday,

She said the call was necessary, to enable the womenfolk to contribute their quota to nation building.

On the campaign theme of the 2024 IWD, “Inspired Inclusion”, Danjuma stressed the need for women to be inspired to explore their potential.

She further urged women to inspire themselves to thrive in the male-dominated political space, particularly in Nigeria.

“We are here today to encourage women to come together and have one voice. By having one voice, we will get there.”

She decried that women were not giving female politicians adequate support to contribute to governance.

“Women supporting women; we really are not doing that.

“It is not by saying it, we should put more action for us to get there.

“We are out to inspire ourselves and to include ourselves where we belong,” she said.

She called on government and other stakeholders to ensure that the society adhered to the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act.

Danjuma said that enforcing the law would reduce gender-based violence and other vices against women.

A member of the group, Mrs Taibat Akinbiyi-Dawodu, called on women to make themselves relevant in all spheres of life.

“As women, we have to show others that we are important; we know what we want and we know what we want to do.

“By doing this, people will recognise us, government will recognise us, and our husbands will know we have the capacity to lead.”

She urged women not to  relegate themselves to the background, calling on them to know their worth.

“We have to make ourselves relevant.

When we want to be included in anything, we have to show that we are ready.”

On declining number of female lawmakers,  Akinbiyi-Dawodu called on women to get “their arts right, from the grassroots”.

She urged men to give women a chance as their place was not just in the home.

The Convener of Available Woman Ministry, Abuja, Pastor Baiwa Kayili, said, “if a woman is well inspired, there is more to what she can do”.

She urged women to get the right information, idea, attitude and the right approach to doing things.

According to her, such qualities will guarantee their inclusion in decision making processes.

Kayili also urged women to be open to learning, and correction, adding that if not imbibed, the womenfolk would be excluded from national matters.

“If we are well equipped, we will be sought after and when opportunities present themselves I believe they will be properly utilised.

“Any woman that is well inspired will make use of opportunities available, to bring the best out of her.”

Mrs Vera Usigbe, a Senior Nurse,  Department of Public Health Services, National Assembly, urged women to take their health seriously.

Usigbe, who was the Keynote Speaker at the event, spoke on Pre and Post Menopause symptoms and management.

She said menopause was a biological process that if properly managed, would not result in complications.

“Menopause is a natural decline in reproductive hormones when a woman reaches her 40s or 50s.”

She said once a woman got to the age of 30,  she should begin to prepare her mind for menopause.

While noting that menopause could occur suddenly, Usigbe said that the signs included ‘hot flash’ .

Hot flash according to her, is a situation where a woman feels internal heat and mood changes.

She said if not properly managed, hot flash could lead to depression and poor mental health.

The keynote speaker said menopause symptoms could be managed in many ways, including life style change, hormone replacement therapy and managing stress.

Highpoint of the event was the presentation of cash gifts to widows, exchange of gifts among WIN members, free medical check and cutting of cake.(NAN)

Edited by Idris Abdulrahman

By Titaro Irmiya

The Federal Government and other stakeholders have reaffirmed their commitment towards accelerating gender equality through implementation of economic empowerment for women.

They made this commitment at a Multi-stakeholders National Symposium on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in commemoration of the 2024 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration in Abuja.

Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Minister of Women Affairs, noted the challenges affecting women and children, adding that investment in women empowerment would promote economic growth and eliminate gender-based violence.

Kennedy-Ohanenye emphasised that sensitisation, trainings, and empowerment would also achieve sustainable development and meet the needs of the target persons.

“If you want to do advocacy, don’t do advocacy on hungry people because a hungry man is an angry man; if you want to do advocacy feed your host,” she said.

The minister, while alluding to the Women’s anthem, urged stakeholders to support the quest for women empowerment and inclusion in societal affairs.

“The anthem said it is time for action, women should fight for their rights, and the anthem equally said women cannot be silent when women and children are crying.

“It is time for us to take our place and build our nation; for nobody will do it for us,” she said.

Ms Ene Obi, former Country Director, Action Aid, Nigeria, noted the challenges in accessing healthcare services, economic hardship, and poor participation of women in politics.

“What is the Nigerian government doing for Nigerian women? It is not about giving us tokenism if you want to count her in elective positions.

“As we celebrate ourselves, we must reflect that some women are in serious pains. Girls are in captivity and women are dying,” she said.

Obi, therefore, emphasised the need to improve access to girl-child education to promote equal opportunities and participation of women in the social, economic and political affairs of the country.

“The educational system is the best platform to ‘count her in’.

“According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “all human beings are born free and equal,” and therefore, a woman is a human first and should be treated without bias,” she said.

Amanuel Mamo, Director of Advocacy, Campaign, Communication and Media for Save the Children Nigeria, called for scale up of social protection services to women and girls.

Mamo, also advocated the creation of a national movement of ending child marriage, sending back all girls to school, and implementing strategies and plan for the Child Protection Law (Child Rights Act).

Other activities to mark the day included the unveiling and presentation of Guidelines for the Localisation of Nigeria’s National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Related Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security.

Also, the presentation of the Digital Women Empowerment Hub to facilitate access to information, data and activities on women empowerment within and outside the country.

Also, women entrepreneurs displayed some of their achievements and products as part of their contributions to national development. (NAN)

Edited by Isaac Aregbesola