February 7, 2023
The AfriWomen held her second networking event for her members and grassroot beneficiaries from her major literacy and skills centres across the Ibadan metropolis.
The focus of this networking lunch was on the current hardship caused by the new Naira, how to build resilience, survive and reflect on how to actively vote for people who will create and implement policies that will empower more women into leadership positions.
In her welcoming remarks, Adebukola Oso, the founder and CEO of the AfriWomen welcome the guest Alhaja Faosat Joke Sanni the Oyo state’s current commissioner for special duties and the former commissioner for women affairs.
Oso gave a brief history of AfriWomen and her achievements to date particularly in our NGOs six priority areas: Adult Literacy, Skills and Vocational Training, Networking Community Formation, Advocacy, Access to Finance through Cooperative and Marketing Schemes, Enrollment and Retention of Girls in School.
In addition, Oso pointed out that today’s networking lunch is to discuss the New Naira Policy, Hyper Inflation, the untold hardship that it puts on women who are already marginalised in the scheme of things, the forthcoming election and how to build resilience as mothers, wives, daughters and friend to weather this difficult phase.
Responding Alhaja Faosat Sanni said that she had heard about the AfriWomen efforts but is surprised that the NGO and her laudable achievements have not been brought to the attention of herself and the government of Oyo state. She promised that things would change for the better because genuine NGOs like the AfriWomen deserve to be supported and celebrated for the work that they especially find the resources independently to support the government of Oyo states development programmes, particularly for women and poverty alleviation.
Using her personal life experiences as a woman, wife, mother and daughter, Sanni encouraged our women to be extra tolerant, strong, resourceful, patient and dutiful to our husbands as the ‘no access to or limited cash” is putting pressure on all breadwinners. Citing examples, she encouraged our women to provide more support in maintaining the economic upkeep of the house.
Thanking Alhaja Sanni, Oso encouraged the husbands who accompanied their wives to this networking to be more communicative about their current situations, shun unnecessary spending and focus on planning activities that will encourage better parenting of their children.
Several of the participants responded on the benefits of being an AfriWoman. They felt honoured that the commissioner took time out to network with them. Others spoke about the challenges facing the NGO which are mainly funding. They pointed out that the founder has single-handedly provided for free all the services and resources. They requested that the commissioner support AfriWomen by passing the message of finding challenges to decision-makers in the government.
In both their closing remarks, both Oso and Sanni encouraged the women with the following advice: to use their PVC wisely by voting responsibly for the right leaders, to parent their youths and children responsibly, to eschew violence and instead make these elections a celebration of democracy in the country.
Furthermore, that we should be mindful that Nigeria is the only country that we have. We owe it to our nation to play our parts in sustaining its peace, unity and progress at all times. That women must continue to take more bold steps to be more in their personal and collective lives as women.
The lunch ended with the celebration of Alhaja Faosat Sanni’s birthday. The AfriWomen thanked the celebrant for her warmth, love for women and family, her numerous gifts, her wise words, and for honoring our invitation.
February 7, 2023
THE AFRIWOMEN SEEKS TO EMPOWER 500 GIRLS THROUGH EMAIL REGISTRATION FOR JAMB.
Speaking on the purpose of this exercise, Adebukola Oso the founder and CEO of AfriWomen for Entrepreneurship Initiative stated that “Educating the girl child is the foundation of women empowerment. The enrolment and retention of girl child in school is one of the core programme area of the AfriWomen.”
Remarking further, Oso stated that the statement issued by Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, on the 30th of January,2023 that personal email from January 31 is now compulsory for JAMB registration and that no candidate will be registered without providing an email address.
Taking bold steps to ensure that as many girls as possible fulfill this criteria, the staff at the AfriWomen was at the Methodist Grammar School, Bodija Ibadan on the 7th of February, 2023 to create email accounts for secondary school students.
Two- thirds of the world’s school-age children – or 1.3 billion children aged 3 to 17 years old – do not have an internet connection in their homes, according to a new joint report from UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The senior secondary students particularly those in year 3 sitting for the exams in 2023 fall within this category.
The above statistics and it’s implication on the already marginalised status of girls education spurred AfriWomen to take actions as regards email creation for SS3 students.
For the next couple of weeks, the AfriWomen staff will work with the 20 public secondary schools approved by the Oyo state Ministry of Education. Some of these schools are mixed gender schools, the AfriWomen will extend this services to the boy child.
One of the students who came to put down her details with us for the email creation, Amusan Adeshewa Aramide, a student from SS3 science was interviewed by our staff and she said ” I am writing JAMB this year but I have not been able to register because I don’t have an email account.” This is evidence that the new policy by JAMB potentially limits student’s registration.
At the end of the email creation exercise, the school management, Adeshewa, and her colleagues were grateful for the thoughtfulness of the AfriWomen to assist with overcoming this challenges.
