Dear Nigerian, is your conscience corruption-free?
The election period draws near.
The battle for the seat of power has started.
Many politicians have declared their intention to run for one office or the other.
And once again, the ritual of campaigns has started where citizens are promised utopia, change, a better economy etc.
We have heard everything they have to say for the umpteenth time. The innocent masses will again cast their votes in hopes of a better tomorrow, only for those hopes to be dashed.
This has been the cycle of democracy in Nigeria.
It turns out that democracy is just an excuse to perpetuate wickedness, loot the national treasury, appoint greedy accomplices to positions of power and share the national cake.
Our leaders don’t think in the long term. They don’t care about the basic needs of the masses; a thriving economy, national security, job opportunities, working infrastructures and functional systems.
Corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of our dear nation to the extent that Nigeria is ranked 149th in the world’s corruption index. Data according to Wikipedia reveals that Nigeria has lost $400 billion to corruption from their independence year up to 2012. If the trend continues, corruption will cost Nigeria 37% of its GDP in 2030, which will amount to $2000 per person.
Before we start casting the stones on obvious culprits, let us consider the meaning of corruption to understand it better.
Wikipedia defines corruption as a form of dishonesty or a criminal offence undertaken by an organisation entrusted with a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one’s gain. Corruption may involve many activities, which include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence peddling, graft, and embezzlement. Political corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption is a pervasive sociological problem that occurs with varying degrees and proportions in virtually all countries globally, and Nigeria is no exception.
The alarming rate of corruption, lack of transparency and accountability in governance is responsible for the woes of Nigeria. Once elected into positions of power, our leaders forget their many promises of ‘Eden life’ to the masses. The worst part is that they consciously neglect their duties to enact laws and policies and undertake reforms on mandates to solve key pressing issues in society.
Instead, we see a myriad of political schemes to retain power, suppress the masses, oppress advocates and activists who speak up, misappropriate public resources, and deepen their pockets. This trend is enabled by a lack of transparency and accountability on how public resources are used to address national challenges. Aside from the numerous effects, this trend impedes progress and the generation of national wealth.
Do you know the interesting thing?
These leaders and public officers were once normal citizens like you and me. They grew up in families and communities, and they passed through the educational system from basic to higher institutions. They may not share the same life experiences as you and me, but they sure went through the same process of life.
So, what happened to them to turn them into mean public administrators once they assumed office?
The truth is, nothing changed in them. Money and power do not change a person; but rather reveal their true identity. They have always been corrupt, and they grew up in the same system of corruption.
Nigeria runs on corruption.
It is a hard pill to swallow, but it is the truth.
What do you say about the petty oil trader who mixes her oil with another substance to make it bigger so she can make more profit?
What do you say about the SUG president who promises to represent the student body and fight for their right, but immediately he is elected into power, he goes to bed with the school administration and compromises the rights of those he is to represent?
What do you say about the pastor that conditions his sermons to extort money from his members and mentally engineers their minds to remain faithful followers of his creed?
What about parents who register their children in special centres and bribe examiners so their children can pass their examinations?
Should we talk about the police officers who run the business of collecting money from motorists on the streets of Nigeria?
Or do we talk about the poor masses who sell their votes for a few cups of rice, the thugs and agberos these politicians use to disrupt elections, or the electoral officers who accept bribes to manipulate election results?
Let’s face it.
We are all guilty.
The average Nigerian is corrupt, and organisations set up to punish these corrupt practices are even more corrupt.
Corruption is more than a problem; it has become a stronghold, a system, a culture. It will take more than apportioning blames to drive real change.
What can be done?
Let’s start by looking inwards.
Let’s start with asking ourselves, “Am I a corrupt citizen?”
We cannot demand from our government what we, the citizens, are not capable of giving.
Are we tired of corruption and its adverse socio-economic repercussions in our country? Then, let’s start by making sure we are not culprits.
Business people, traders and their associations must desist from creating artificial scarcity to increase the price of their goods.
Parents should encourage their wards to study to show themselves approved instead of paying for their grades.
The police, armed forces, and any force should commit to their responsibility of national security and protection of lives and properties and desist from intimidating citizens to extort money from them.
Even the poor masses must refuse to sear their conscience and sell their votes for immediate gratification, without much thought for the future.
Everyone privileged to be in a position of power and authority should not misuse it for personal gain but must be accountable and transparent in all dealings.
If a substantial percentage of Nigerians were corrupt-free, transparent and accountable, the burden of corruption wouldn’t be this heinous, and even the corrupt ones would be fished out and duly punished by the law.
Furthermore, we must devise mechanisms to hold our leaders accountable in all their dealings. We must allow them to run around like loose cannons. Complaining on social media will not do us any good. It is time to channel our complaints to the proper authorities and through the right channel. We must demand transparency and accountability from our leaders at all levels. We must keep track of their campaign promises and demand their fulfilment. We cannot sit on the sidelines anymore. We must raise our voices in advocacy and our hands in solidarity to stem corruption in our dear country.
Next, we must teach the future generation the integrity of leadership and inculcate the pride and dignity of selfless service and stewardship.
If we want a better Nigeria, then we must begin now to lay the foundation, create the right system, and instil the right mindset in our young ones with the expectation that when it is time for them to take the baton, they will be the Nigeria we’ve always dreamed of.
Does it mean that Nigeria is hopeless and helpless as it is?
No. Not at all.
Corruption is a grassroots problem. And if we must fight it, we must start from the grassroots level to break down its stronghold, uproot the system and plant a new one.
What we do at DO
At DO, we are steps ahead in the quest to reduce corruption, if not completely eradicate it in Nigeria.
First off, the School Prefect, a Campaigning and Electioneering exercise that enables students to elect their School prefects. The goal of the project is to provide students with a foundational understanding of leadership, government and electoral process, and citizens’ role in electing the right leaders and holding them accountable.
Next is the Voters’ Demand project, an open database where citizens can submit their demands frequently. This project will see that passionate individuals or groups who care about the survival of the people in their community will take action by pledging to report issues in their community that need the attention of their representatives and government. This database would be open to the government and the general public so that government can have collections of the citizens’ needs and demands. The data collected would be disaggregated into the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
And the last one is the Promise Tracker, a citizen-monitoring platform designed to help communities track issues they care about and use that information to advocate for change with local government, institutions, or the press. Using a simple web application, community groups can design a mobile phone-based survey, collect data using the mobile app, visualise it in maps and graphs to spark dialogue about collaborative solutions. Promise trackers leverage tech to enunciate political promises (often made during the campaign period) and then audit how the politician or party has or hasn’t fulfilled these promises while governing. The tracker scours ruling party manifestos, political party websites, and transcripts of major speeches delivered during election campaigns.
Join us in this fight against corruption by becoming a Grassroots Development Champion (GDC) and carry out any of these projects in your community.
Collaborate with us through partnerships and donations to sponsor our projects towards eradicating corruption in Nigeria.
Lastly, be the change you want to see in Nigeria. Be corrupt-free, and Nigeria might stand a chance to attain the corrupt-free status in due time.
In the spirit of the international day of conscience, let’s drop the culture of corruption and imbibe the “Culture of Peace with Love and Conscience.”
God bless Nigeria.
A disability-free world is possible via immunisation
Lucy Ejike suffered polio as a child and became disabled by it. Her disability notwithstanding, she followed through with her dreams in sports, powerlifting. Since her debut in 2000, Lucy continued to win medals for her country in the Paralympics.
Lucy is one of over 25 million Nigerians living with a physical disability facing discrimination, poverty, abuse, and limited access to education, employment and opportunities.
Lucy was able to get an education and get a life; let’s not talk about all the difficulties she had to pull through. What about other disabled people that can’t as much as afford a good meal a day?
According to the Merriam-webster dictionary, disability refers to any physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person’s ability to engage in certain tasks or actions or participate in typical daily activities and interactions.
Disability is a widespread endemic in Nigeria.
In every city, on every street in Nigeria, you see disabled people everywhere trying to make ends meet. Those born into wealth are supported by their families to pursue their dreams still and manage to make a living. A few can learn skills like shoemaking, bag making etc., through which they make a living. Many others have to beg their way through a meal a day.
Education is a costly luxury for persons with disabilities, and many families are not financially buoyant enough to cater to the special education needs of their disabled wards. The visually impaired Nigerian singer, songwriter and music producer Cobhams Asuquo reflected that the New Mathematics Textbook was N350, but the braille version cost N10,000.
In Nigeria, there are no separate elevators for persons with disabilities. So, they have to go through the rigour of climbing stairs to get to wherever they need to be. For Lucy Ejike, it was a hassle to climb storey buildings to get to lecture halls and administrative offices.
Persons with disabilities are denied their political right to vote for and be voted for. Despite the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act of 2018, which is supposed to strengthen the institutional landscape for disability inclusion through the Disability Commission, there is little or no implementation yet at all levels of government.
Getting a job in Nigeria is already a hustle for people who do not have disabilities. Imagine what persons with disabilities will have to go through to secure a job. First, they have to endure discrimination from employers and countless rejections. And if they do get hired, then there is the issue of mobility. Nigerian corporate institutions have little or no facilities to help persons with disabilities. This is why the unemployment rate among persons with disabilities is almost double that of the general population.
And, of course, when someone cannot provide for himself, poverty becomes inevitable. Poverty hits differently for persons with disability, and their economic disability is compounded by their physical disability. The worst part is that the government do not even care about them.
Do we even talk about the stigmatisation and emotional implications of having a disability? Persons with disabilities as seen as charity cases, and the first impression they make on anyone is that of pity and sympathy. It can be a harrowing experience to be seen as incapacitated to do anything meaningful.
The burden of disabilities is endless.
What can be done?
Many people have talked about some measures to help the socioeconomic status of persons with disabilities.
But, what if disabilities can be avoided totally through immunisation/vaccination?
A greater percentage of the disabilities people suffer today could have been prevented by immunisation.
Immunisation has helped nearly eradicate fatal diseases and infections such as Polio, Tetanus, Flu, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Rubella, Measles, Whooping cough, Chickenpox, Smallpox, Diphtheria, Haemophilus Influenza, Mumps, Meningococcal, Rotavirus, Pneumococcal disease etc.
Immunisations protect us from serious diseases and also help to keep those diseases from spreading to others. They protect us by priming our immune systems for specific organisms before the infection occurs. When a vaccinated person comes into contact with these diseases, their immune system is better able to respond, preventing the disease from forming or lessening its severity.
Immunisation protects not only your own family but also others by helping to control serious diseases in our community. When a sufficient percentage of a community is vaccinated against infectious disease, it reduces the likelihood of that infection for those who lack immunity. This is what we call herd immunity.
Immunisation is much easier and more cost-effective than treating the disease. Given the high cost of healthcare, it is cheaper to get vaccinated against infection than treat it. By getting your family vaccinated, you save a lot of money that you would have spent on treatment. You also save your family from fatality, disability, or discomfort with the infection.
Immunisation also protects future generations by eradicating diseases. Many diseases like Polio, Chickenpox, etc., are near extinction due to immunisation. So, it is not just about now; it’s also about the future.
What we do at DO
Ability is an advocacy campaign project for the establishment of the rights of people with disability to be recognised as bonafide members of society through encouraging social support, ensuring accessibility to healthcare and education facilities with disability inclusion, and donation of assistive devices such as hearing aids, wheelchairs, pill organisers, etc.
Join us today in this fight against disability by becoming a Grassroots Development Champion (GDC) and carrying out this project in your community.
Collaborate with us through donations and partnerships to sponsor our quest to advocate for persons with disabilities and make life bearable for them.
More importantly, take this as a soft reminder to immunise your family in this month of immunisation.
#LongLifeForAll
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: A Serial Glass Ceiling Breaker
Today marks the end of March, Women’s history month.
This month has been an interesting and eventful one for women in Nigeria, from the rejection of 5 pro-women policies by Nigerian lawmakers to the nationwide women’s protests that saw the lawmakers rescinding their decision.
What better way to end this month than to eulogise and celebrate a serial glass ceiling breaker, a woman constantly blazing new trails and setting new paces for women in Nigeria, Africa, and the world.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is an economist, a global finance maven, fair trade pundit, human welfare champion and an international development professional with over 30 years of experience working in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.
The Delta-born economist started her illustrious career after graduating magna cum laude with an AB in Economics from Harvard University in 1976. She went on to bag a PhD in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a thesis on Credit policy, rural financial markets, and Nigeria’s agricultural development. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) awarded her an international fellowship to support her doctoral studies. From there on, Dr Okonjo-Iweala emblazoned her ingenuity on global finance and economy.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala had a 25-year stint at the World Bank as a development economist and rose to the number two position of managing director, operations. She was in charge of the World Bank’s $81 billion operational portfolios in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. During the 2008-2009 food and financial crises, she championed various World Bank programs to assist low-income nations during the 2008–2009 food and financial crises. She presided over the IDA replenishment, the World Bank’s successful drive to generate $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest credit for the world’s poorest countries, and was a member of the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa.
A true patriot, Dr Okonjo-Iweala answered the clarion call from her country, Nigeria, to serve as the Finance Minister twice (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006; she was the first woman to hold both positions. During her first tenure as Finance Minister in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, she led negotiations with the Paris Club that resulted in the cancellation of US$30 billion of Nigeria’s debt, including an outright cancellation of US$18 billion. She initiated reforms ranging across macroeconomic, trade, financial and real sector issues that steered the fortunes of her country for the better.
In her second stint as Finance Minister in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Dr Okonjo-Iweala initiated women and youth empowerment programmes like the Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria Programme (GWIN); a gender-responsive budgeting system, and the highly acclaimed Youth Enterprise with Innovation Programme (YouWIN); to support entrepreneurs, and create more jobs. She also led reforms like GIFMS (Government Integrated Financial Management System), the IPPMS (Integrated Personnel and Payroll Management System), and the TSA (Treasury Single Accounts); this enhanced transparency of government accounts and strengthened institutions against corruption.
At the international level, Dr Okonjo-Iweala is a force to be reckoned with in the global economic and financial space. She sits on many boards like Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI); an organisation that has immunised 760 million children globally and saved thirteen million lives, MINDS: Mandela Institute for Development Studies, Danone, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Peace and Security, One Campaign, Twitter, Rockefeller Foundation, Georgetown Institute for Women, R4D: Results for Development, ARC: African Risk Capacity and Earthshot Prize, Standard Chartered Bank and a host of others.
Recently, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was appointed as African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support to fight against COVID-19 and WHO Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. To crown it all, she was unanimously appointed the Director-General, World Trade Organisation, becoming the first woman and first African to hold such a position.
What a woman!
Dr Okonjo-Iweala is the author of numerous articles and books. Some of her works include; Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons co-authored with Julia Gillard (Penguin Random House, July 2020), Finding A Vaccine is Only the First Step (Foreign Affairs, April 2020), Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines (MIT Press, 2018), Reforming the UnReformable: Lessons from Nigeria, (MIT Press, 2012), Mobilizing Finance for Education in the Commonwealth (Commonwealth Education Report 2019), Shine a Light on the Gaps — an essay on financial inclusion for African Small Holder Farmers (Foreign Affairs, 2015), Funding the SDGs: Licit and Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries (Horizons Magazine, 2016), and The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy (Africa World Press, 2003). She also co-authored with Tijan Sallah the book Chinua Achebe: Teacher of Light (Africa World Press, 2003).
She is the founder of NOI-Polls, Nigeria’s first-ever indigenous opinion-research organisation, and the Center for the Study of Economies of Africa (C-SEA), a development research think tank based in Abuja Nigeria. She is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development and at the Brookings Institution, premier Washington DC think tanks.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has a plethora of awards and honours from international organisations and bodies. She has been listed among the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012), the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (Forbes, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), the Top 3 Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Africa (Forbes, 2011), the Top 100 Women in the World (The Guardian, 2011), the Top 150 Women in the World (Newsweek, 2011), the Top 100 most inspiring people in the World Delivering for Girls and Women (Women Deliver, 2011), Condé Nast International’s 73 “brilliant” business influencers in the world. The awards are just too many.
Oh, don’t get me started on honourary degrees. I don’t think I have enough space for that.
The world-renown financial expert is married to her heartthrob, Dr Ikemba Iweala, a neurosurgeon. The union is blessed with four children and three grandchildren.
At 67, Dr Okonjo-Iweala is still ruling the world.
She is a colossus, a role model, an enigma, an institution, and a great inspiration to many women, reminding us of the endless possibilities and greatness in every woman.
Are you still sitting on the sidelines?
Join Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to #breakthebias.
Microcredit loans: A tool for women’s empowerment
In today’s time and age, it is refreshing to find women represented in almost all professions, vocations, and businesses. And they are not only represented in numbers but also in relevance, even in business. Currently, women constitute about 40% of the 41 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
Men still hold the lion-share in the business space, but women are no longer intimidated by patriarchal dominance. Rather, they are rising to the challenge, breaking glass ceilings in the business world and gradually making their mark.
A worthy mention is Folorunsho Alakija, a woman who started as a secretary in the corporate world before deciding to delve into business. Today, she is the CEO of Supreme Stitches, a tailoring company and Famfa Oil Limited, a petroleum company. Folorunsho has a net worth of $2.1 billion and was named the richest woman of black or African ancestry in 2014, surpassing Oprah Winfrey.
A slew of millennials like Olamide Orekunrin of Flying Doctors, Isioke Ogieowonyiin of L’espace, Eseoghene Odiete of Hesey designs and a host of others are redefining the business space with their entrepreneurial solutions.
However, one of the impediments to the advancement of women in business is the lack of funds to start up a business or expand a current business. Impoverished women are usually the most affected because they cannot afford the many options available to wealthy women (personal savings, family support, investment from a wealthy spouse).
This is where microcredit loans come in.
Microcredit, according to Investopedia, is a common form of microfinance that involves an extremely small loan given to an individual to help them become self-employed or grow a small business.
Microcredit loans as a tool for women’s empowerment
Accessibility
Commercial banks have a standing culture of giving loans to business tycoons and wealthy entrepreneurs because they have collateral and sureties. Banks don’t extend loans to those with little or no assets and generally don’t engage in small scale loans. Microcredit bridges this gap by providing small scale loans to poor entrepreneurs to help them get their businesses off the ground. Women stand to benefit ostensibly because they make up a greater percentage of small business owners.
Better loan repayment rates
Bank loans are usually associated with exorbitant interest rates that a struggling entrepreneur cannot afford. A poor woman trying to start a business or grow a business while taking care of the needs of her family will not find it funny repaying a loan with 20% interest rates; it will cripple her finances. However, microcredit loans come with low-interest rates and fair repayment plans that will allow the entrepreneur to manage the financial strain that accompanies loans.
Extending education and health
Women are natural caregivers. If a woman is empowered financially, she will extend the profits of her business to her family to ensure that their needs are met. Even studies prove that households with working moms are more likely to give their children a good education, medical care and other good things of life as much as they can afford than families where the woman is a housewife with no economic value.
Increased Gross Domestic Products (GDP)
A 2015 study by McKinsey Global Institute reveals that increasing the participation of women in the economy of a country can increase that country’s potential gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income. To put it simply, it means that women hold the key to global economic development, prosperity and stability. And what better way to explore that key than empowering them through microcredit loans to open or expand their business.
Social and political empowerment
There is a correlation between the hand and the mouth, and an empowered hand equals an empowered mouth. As women become more economically involved, they also become more socially and politically involved. This means they can advocate for changes in their communities to improve their well-being, vie for and occupy public offices. Women who are not economically empowered will always ‘hide their face.’
Entrepreneurial training
What makes microcredit loans an exceptional solution for poor businesswomen is access to loans and the non-financial services they offer these women like business training, information access, technology development, marketing support, financial consultations, monitoring, and evaluation.
Access to these services enables women entrepreneurs to deal with difficult situations that arise in running their businesses, engage in income-generating activities, improve the performance of their projects, and ensure the success and sustainability of their businesses. On the other hand, the lack of these services is one of the primary reasons for the failure of female entrepreneurs’ projects and their transformation from entrepreneurs to financially distressed women, if not insolvent.
Microcredit loans are a great tool for alleviating women’s poverty and empowering women to be economically relevant. However, if loans are handed over to women in business without a framework to ensure sustainability, it will amount to little or no progress.
What to do
Gender-based microcredit loans
It is an illusion to believe that women borrowers are treated equally to their male counterparts. On the contrary, women are marginalised because they have lower capital absorptive capacity than men. As a result, women are passed over in microcredit programmes or can only access lower loan packages, programmes, and services; this limits the range of their economic activities and returns.
A solution would be to have gender-based microcredit programmes that cater to the peculiar needs of women in business and ensure gender inclusion in microcredit loan programmes and facilities.
Group microcredit lending
Women have built support groups and associations where members can access help, advice, mentorship and support. A very popular mention is the August Meeting of Igbo Women in Nigeria, where Igbo women in diaspora converge in their villages once a year to discuss matters and help themselves. Government, NGOs and microcredit facilities can partner with these women groups to disburse loans to economically deficient members. This system will allow for proper accountability of the loans and an excellent check mechanism that enlists the family and friends of the loaner to help offset the loans in due time to avoid embarrassment.
Policies for sustainability
Some barriers to women accessing more loans are usually inflexible repayment rates and duration. The government should create policies that ensure that microcredit facilities or programmes adhere to a flat interest rate and repayment plan. More impoverished women can take loans to start or expand their businesses and not be too overwhelmed by the added financial responsibility.
Many microcredit facilities and programmes only pay attention to earning profits instead of poverty alleviation; this is wrong as it defeats the very purpose of microcredit loans. Therefore, the government should implement a microcredit framework that fosters impact over profit. That means loans will not be limited to those who can pay back, but even the poorest of the poor can access loans and pay back in due time.
Business training
One of the key differences between a bank and a microcredit loan is the non-financial services microcredit programmes offer to their borrowers to ensure the loans are properly utilised. Beyond the loans, these mostly illiterate women should be taught managerial skills, bookkeeping, marketing, product research and selection, market survey, branding, networking etc. This is, in fact, the most important aspect of microcredit loans that should not be taken for granted; else, the loans will amount to little or nothing.
What we do at DO
Revolving Business Loan for Women is an advocacy project to increase the accessibility and affordability of loans for impoverished women to do business. This project advocates for more microcredit solutions to cater to women in business and improve their economic productivity.
Join us to carry out this project in your community by becoming a Grassroots Development Champion (GDC).
Become a DO partner or donor and sponsor this project in your community.
Esiobu Ngozika, Redefining the Girl-Child
In this time and age, it is rare to find young people who are more concerned with issues in their community than the next Twitter trend. Esiobu Ngozika is one of such rare young people.
Let’s meet her.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I am from Anambra state, and I reside in Benin, where I am currently studying English and Literature Education at the University of Benin.
I am a 300 level student of English and Literature, Faculty of Education in the Department of Educational Foundation, University of Benin.
I am a Copywriter. I write content and generate copies for businesses and individuals. That is my skill, and it’s an online skill where you write copies and all of that. I am 23 years old.
How was your childhood like?
I am from a family of seven; five kids. I am the third child. My childhood was not a palatable one because my Mom passed when I was still very young; I think I was 4 years old or 5 when she passed on. And given the fact that we are more of girls; we are four girls and one boy who is the lastborn, we couldn’t stay with our Dad. He had to go out for work. Because of that, we were spread among our uncles.
I went to stay with my uncle in Katsina state, with his wife and two kids as at then. The experience was not palatable, I must say. It was really tough for me. My uncle was a good and nice person even up till now, but I saw hell on earth in the hands of his wife. But what can I do? It’s part of life. It’s part of growth. It’s part of learning.
I eventually went back to stay with my Dad and Grandma, because there was no one I could stay with. My Dad did not remarry early; he remarried just recently. So, I had to stay with my Grandma, and that’s where I started life afresh. I stayed with my Grandma for two years, and moved on to Abuja to stay with my uncle; that was where I started and finished secondary school. Again, it was not easy. I eventually got my freedom when I gained admission into the school. That is my childhood story in a summary.
At what point did you decide that your current course and business is what you want to do?
What prompted me to go into English and Literature as a course is because I like teaching, and back then, in secondary school, I spoke more of English. Even when I tried to speak pidgin like my mates, they were like, ‘Please, don’t speak that. It doesn’t fit you.’ I just like English. So, since I like teaching and I like English, why don’t I study it and make a profession out of it. So, that was what prompted me into studying English and Literature.
As per my side hustle, copywriting still falls under the same line of English writing. But, for my humanitarian services, reaching out to communities and my society, making an impact in my little way, even as a student, was borne out of my passion for the girl-child.
As a young girl growing up, staying with uncles was not easy. I stayed with my aunt in Abuja, at JSS 3 or SS 1, when I first had my period. Before then, no one has ever enlightened me about menstruation. So, at that point, I did not know what menstruation was and what to do. I remember that day vividly; it was on the 25th of December. I was perplexed. And you know, staying with uncles and aunties that don’t give you room to communicate with them, I’m always on my own. I’m still trying to get out of that lifestyle even up till now. I stayed with them; I was always on my own. Speaking to them was based on errands; asides from that, I was on my own. Consequently, communicating with them on any issue was a problem.
So, I was scared. I was freaking out, and I couldn’t even speak up or tell anyone. I was scared of what I’d tell my aunty or what her reaction would be. I did not know about menstruation at all. After the first day, I had to go on tissue; I think it was on the second day that she noticed a stain on my cloth and called me. She didn’t say anything about it. She just said, ‘whenever you see this kind of a thing, use this, use this.’ She then gave me some pieces of clothes that I made use of.
My period didn’t returned after my first experience, and I was happy. However, after about a year, I saw it again. This time around, I didn’t bother telling anyone since she had already told me what to use. Even though she was a pharmacist, she never educated me on menstruation, and I don’t know why. I had no education; I did not know about menstruation.
So, when I got admitted into the university and visited villages from time to time, I saw many things. I remember what I passed through when I was growing up, and that was one of the things I said to myself I needed to share. Young girls need to know about this thing. It is despicable that parents, especially mothers, don’t deem it right to educate their young girls on menstruation.
So, I’d been looking out for how to get started, given that I am a student when I came across DO Take Action. I was really happy because they afforded me the opportunity and provided a platform where I could make this dream come true. Because of my experience, I decided to do the Menstrual cycle hygiene and Sex Education project. I didn’t think twice when I chose this project. I still want to continue in it.
The second is the incessant out-of-wedlock pregnancies rampant in our days. You see young girls in JSS 3, SS 1, SS 2 having children out of wedlock, becoming mothers at a very tender age. No one comes up to say he is the father and take care of them. As a result, they become added burdens to their parents.
These things prompted me to do humanitarian service, and I keep doing it. I’m a Make Orumba Great Again; it is in Anambra state. I’m their secretary, and we are planning to execute a project this year, and we are still looking at that line of the program because I suggested to them that this is what I want, and we are looking into it to see how we can make that achievable.
Young girls need to be educated. They need to know that life is not all about giving birth at age 13, that there is more they can achieve, that they have a great future, that there is more for them, that their life doesn’t end in the bedroom or the kitchen. There is more to achieve out there, and we need to start from the grassroots to enlighten them.
These were everything that prompted me into going into humanitarian services.
What do you think has been instrumental to your level of success?
What has been instrumental to my success is that I believe that the expected end is what matters in life. Our expected end to a particular project or a particular action is what matters. When I look at myself and see the level of success I have achieved, I am energised to do more. Because it is not about me, it’s about the society that is getting impacted; it is about the society I am changing, the society I want to see tomorrow, and the girl-child I want to see tomorrow. It is about that girl-child that must not suffer what I passed through as a child. And this has been instrumental to my success. It keeps me going when I see them happy when I see a change. When I see that my impact is making a change, someone is making a change; I am building a better girl, woman, mother.
What bias have you had to deal with and how did you overcome them?
Being a female or a woman in Nigeria is not a day’s job. I am a woman, and I am a lady. However, I behave masculine. We are five in our family, and most of us are girls, save the lastborn. So, people usually think we can’t do anything because of that. Among my female siblings, I am the only that behaves like a man. Even my physique is masculine.
Because I am a woman, society does not expect me to do certain things. People feel I should be living off of her parents. But I tell them that being a woman doesn’t limit me and can’t limit me from doing what I have passion for. I’ve had to deal with guys trying to frustrate my efforts because they think I should depend on guys to care for my bills. But, compromising is not on my agenda, especially in my humanitarian service. I have lost two relationships because of this. I refuse to give up. I am not giving up. I believe they are not mine. I believe that there is always someone that’s been placed to support you at whatever level you are. And once the person’s job is done, the person leaves; that is my belief. I’m not going to allow what society thinks of me to prevail; I choose my passion instead.
I’ve encountered guys telling me that I am not supposed to be doing what I am doing and living like a guy. But, I refuse to let their words be my downfall. Instead, I convert those nay sayings into stepping stones to achieve more success. I’ve had to deal with discrimination even among my fellow girls, so I keep my circle small, a small circle of friends that encourage and support me.
You almost sound like a feminist here. I am tempted to ask "are you a feminist?"
You can say so. I believe both sex should have same right and privilege.
The African culture and mentality, most especially that of Nigeria make me go crazy.
Alright. Where do you see yourself in the next ten years?
In the next ten years, I see myself achieving even greater success than today. I want to look back and smile, seeing I have birthed a better girl, a better woman, and a people who will take more action than I am doing now.
Though I am still starting up, in the next ten years, I see myself doing what I am doing in a bigger way, massively reaching out to more communities than I am currently doing.
In the next ten years, I want to see that I have built a better woman that can stand raise her head high in society. I want to keep impacting people, opening up opportunities for them to leverage on, especially the younger ones.
My goal is to see that Nigeria moves to a higher pedestal. I want to see Nigerian women progressive and accomplishing great and unimaginable things.
So, in the next ten years, I want to keep doing what I am doing in a bigger way. I want to keep reaching out to more communities than I am now.
What is the one thing you want everyone to know about you?
One thing I want people to know about me is that I am humanity-driven. I am moved by whatever concerns humanity, not just the girl-child. At every point in my life, I try to render help to those in need in any little way I can. The good thing is that God has been helping me. He has been my backbone, provider, director, everything. And I will keep holding on to him. God keeps giving me the strength to manage all my projects, ambitions, leadership positions, everything. The world needs to know that He is God. When you embrace God, things go smoothly. He will always guide and direct your path.
Also, I don’t like sluggish people; I am proactive in carrying out tasks. I am a very focused person, and I expect the same from people around me. Because without focus and consistency, you cannot achieve anything. Without competence, you are useless. I always advise people around me to key into these qualities because these are what makes successful people.
Finally, I want to take this time to thank DO Take Action. You guys are supportive. Because of DO, I have been able to align myself to my passion. They gave me the platform and opened the door for me. I appreciate you. I promise to keep doing my best. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me; I am grateful for the privilege. God bless you.
Thank you for chatting with me, Ngozika Esiobu.
Esiobu Ngozika is a Grassroots Development Champion (GDC) with DO-Take Action passionate about the girl-child. Ngozika wants to empower the girl-child to be more, aspire for more and achieve success. To that end, she Dorothy to undertake Menstrual Cycle Hygiene and Sex Education project under DO. She taught 50 primary and secondary school girls the importance of menstrual hygiene and distributed 100 reusable pads to underprivileged girls who could not afford a pad.
Want to drive sustainable change in your community?
Join Ngozika to become a GDC.
Water poverty: The dilemma of communities in Nigeria
Christmas holds special interest for me. It is that time of the year we travel to the village for holidays and festivities. Before the advent of public and private boreholes, one of the fun activities I used to enjoy was going to the river to fetch water with my cousins. The river was always teeming with young people swimming, playing in the water or simply sightseeing. The water was used for sanitary purposes like washing, cleaning, and sometimes bathing. My uncle used to go to a neighbouring village with gallons tied to his bike to fetch drinking and cooking water.
Now, this is the harsh reality a lot of communities face in Nigeria.
Water poverty refers to a situation where a nation or region cannot afford the cost of sustainable clean water to all people at all times.
A lot of communities don’t have access to water. Some communities, especially in the north, don’t have water bodies in their land, so they rely on rain and commercial sources to get water for their daily use. For those that do have a natural body of water like a river, stream or spring, it is usually coloured, contaminated and unsafe for consumption; this is especially the case for oil-rich communities in the South-South.
Daily, many communities are subjected to drinking and cooking with contaminated water because of water poverty. Some wake up very early in the morning to make long trips to neighbouring villages that have water on foot, except for those who have vehicles or bikes. Others spend heavily on buying water from water companies or simply buy sachet water for daily use.
One would think water poverty is only peculiar to rural communities, but surveys have proved that even urban settlements suffer water poverty. Access to water is distributed based on economic status and class. Those in the high class do not experience water poverty at all; they have a robust water infrastructure that supplies sufficient water for their daily use. The middle class also have water infrastructure in their compounds, but most times, they commercialise it. The struggling and low-class pay through their nose for access to water, or have to buy from neighbouring houses. Then, you have those living in slums; these ones depend on public boreholes and rain for access to water, and can barely afford to buy water.
Access to clean drinking water and sanitation should be basic human rights as recognized by the 2010 United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 64/292. However, 1.42 billion people in the world suffer from water poverty. Approximately 60 million Nigerians – including 26.5 million children – do not have access to basic drinking water. 39% of families in rural communities do not have access to the basic water supply.
The burden of water poverty
When communities do not have access to clean drinking water, they are forced to ingest water gotten from rivers and streams, most of which are unsafe and contaminated. Consequently, they become susceptible to water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, and diarrhoea.
In the wake of the Covid-19 virus ravaging the world, rural communities and urban slums are most vulnerable to the spread of the pandemic. They cannot practice regular handwashing and personal hygiene which are efficient measures against Covid-19. It is still a wonder that these communities survived the spread of the virus.
Women suffer disproportionately from inadequate access to clean and safe drinking water. Women are homemakers; they handle all the house chores at home, and that includes fetching water. So, they wake up early and trek long distances to fetch water for daily household use; sometimes making up to five trips a day. Consequently, women lose productive time they could have invested in their farm, work or business.
Water poverty has grievous implications for the menstrual hygiene management of women and girls in these communities. A woman’s period is a very sensitive time when they take extra hygiene measures to avoid infections. Lack of access to clean water makes them vulnerable to germs and bacteria, ultimately resulting in pelvic inflammatory diseases which causes discomfort, vaginal discharge, pain, vaginal discharge, tube blockages, and other fatal health complications.
Children are the most vulnerable group to water-borne diseases due to their developing immune systems. Reports from World Health Organization reveals that diarrhoea is the leading cause of death in children under five years old, with an estimation of 525,000 deaths every year; that means over 700 children under age 5 die every day. This confirms the incessant death of children in rural communities.
Water poverty also impacts children’s school attendance because they have to fetch water for their households before preparing for school. Sometimes, these children suffer stunted growth resulting from carrying gallons of water on their heads heavier than their age permits.
Inadequate access to water has overarching implications in agricultural production and food security. Water is needed to grow fruits and vegetables and raise livestock, which is the main part of our diet. Lack of access to clean water could result in lean agricultural produce, food insecurity and famine.
Inadequate access to clean also on businesses that depend on water to thrive, like restaurants. It will increase operational costs, affect the productivity of the business, and hike the prices of its finished product.
The solution
The only solution to water poverty is to make clean water accessible and affordable, especially in communities of high vulnerability.
Government at all levels, concerned INGOs and NGOs should launch initiatives to construct boreholes in strategic positions in affected communities.
Beyond constructing boreholes, the sustainability and maintenance of these boreholes should be taken seriously to ensure that water intervention projects remain functional and maintained. Some of the stringent measures to take include the following;
- Sustainable technologies
Solar technology
Solar water pumps, a device that can convert solar power into mechanical work used to power a special type of water pump, should be used in setting up boreholes instead of traditional water pumps. This will reduce the operational cost of using a generator to pump water.
Remote sensors
Remote sensors can be installed to monitor water levels/depth, water temperature, and parameters such as pH, salinity and turbidity. It can also be used to monitor the status of the infrastructure and instantly alert the user of any breakdown. The sensors are solar-powered and transmit reports through satellite.
- Involve the community
To ensure that the water intervention projects are maintained and their facilities preserved, the communities should be involved and engaged in the course of executing the projects. This will cause them to take ownership of the boreholes, protect the facilities from vandalism, and contribute money to maintain the infrastructures and fund repairs.
- Track intervention projects
It is no news that many uncompleted water intervention projects are scattered across communities in Nigeria. Sometimes, the fund for the projects is squandered by dubious and greedy committees set up to oversee the project. Sometimes, contractors don’t deliver quality jobs. Therefore, benefactors – government, INGOs, NGOs, social institutions – should set up a check-and-balance system to track the execution of these projects from inception to finishing point.
- Government policies
Government should enact effective policies that will guide project committees and contractors regarding the timely execution of projects, the quality of work done, and sustainability measures.
- Revive water service corporations
Government should revive water service corporations at the state and local levels to increase water accessibility, especially in communities with contaminated or polluted water bodies. Water service corporations supply clean water, treat unsafe water, and recycle used water.
What we do at DO
Drill a borehole is a 3-months project designed to sensitize men and women in rural communities on the importance of having a good and safe water source in their communities. This project aims to enlighten communities on their responsibilities, rights and the collective power they have as members of the community (village leaders, stakeholders, etc.) to facilitate access to clean drinking water. The project also provides support to these communities by collaborating with concerned organisations to fund borehole drilling projects.
The purest form of clean and suitable water for consumption is groundwater.
Join us to make clean water accessible to impoverished rural communities and urban slums.
Collaborate with us through donations and partnership to sponsor a ‘Drill a borehole’ project.
Why most pregnant women cannot access antenatal care in Nigeria
The birth of quadruplets to the family of Gora Zubairu brought about joy and celebrations in Gora Dansaka village in Katsina state; they were the first of the kind in the community.
However, the felicitation turned sour when one of the quadruplets died days later. Another tragedy struck when the mother of the quadruplets, Gaje, died too.
Medical enquiries revealed that Gaje never attended antenatal because her husband restrained her and that she suffered malnutrition.
Gaje is a needle in a haystack of 1000 women who die every day in Nigeria from preventable pregnancy and childbirth-related complications.
What is antenatal care?
Antenatal care, also known as prenatal care, is preventive healthcare provided to pregnant women in the course of their pregnancy. It encompasses medical screening to identify high-risk pregnancies, natal education to inform pregnant patients of a healthy lifestyle, prenatal nutrition and danger signs during pregnancy, and prevention and management of health complications. Besides medical care, antenatal care also offers pregnant patients psychological, emotional, and social support they need in their pregnancy.
Antenatal care is necessary to ensure the health of mother and child during pregnancy and childbirth. Women who attend antenatal care are less susceptible to becoming victims of maternal mortality, infant mortality, neonatal infections, congenital disabilities and other health complications. Babies born to mothers who do not get antenatal care are five times more likely to die and three times more likely to have a low birth weight than those born to mothers who do get care.
During antenatal care, medical professionals can spot health problems early, advise the pregnant patient, and better prepare for any complications. Consequently, most of the complications are prevented and managed, and the safety of mother and child is guaranteed.
If antenatal care is so important, why don’t pregnant women attend it?
Inadequate health infrastructure
Many health facilities, especially government-owned hospitals, are ill-equipped to offer quality care to pregnant patients. The facilities are often either outdated, damaged or too few to cater to the teeming pregnant patients. Pregnant women have to wait for hours to see the doctor and are sometimes demoralised by the lack of empathy of health professionals.
Inaccessible health facilities
Distance is usually a barrier for pregnant women living in rural and impoverished communities to attend antenatal care. The added transportation cost and bad roads are great impediments to the poor rural women who can barely afford healthy nutrition.
Costly health services
Given the high cost of medical services in Nigeria, many poor pregnant women are left with no choice but to forego antenatal care. Most of these families live below the poverty line and struggle to make ends meet. Consequently, these poor pregnant women would rather go to traditional birth attendants for advice and eventually deliver their babies.
Business and time constraints
We are in an age where inflation keeps soaring through the roof. Everyone is grinding hard to provide for their families. And this includes pregnant women, who also have to worry about the added financial responsibility of bringing a new child into the world. Consequently, most working pregnant women do not have time to spare to attend their antenatal appointments.
Cultural beliefs
As in the case of Gaje, cultural beliefs have denied some pregnant women access to antenatal care. In cultures, especially in northern Nigeria, where the man makes all the decisions, and the woman is obligated to obey, pregnant women cannot make healthy decisions regarding their health. In fact, in some cultures, they forbid their women to adopt modern medicine; all sicknesses and complications are resolved using traditional medicines.
In some religions, modern medicine is considered taboo, which extends to pregnant women. Female adherents to these religions go to faith-based centres to deliver their babies. And even when complications arise, their attendants would resort to prayer than take the woman to the hospital.
How do we make antenatal care accessible?
Construction of government and private-owned health facilities in remote villages
The government should invest in constructing and adequately equipping federal, state and local hospitals to make quality healthcare more accessible to pregnant women living in rural and remote communities.
Training of traditional birth attendants
Notwithstanding the havoc traditional birth attendants have wreaked in communities, more pregnant women will continue going to them. This is because they are more accessible, charge less and are indigenes of the community, conversant with the language and customs of the land.
Government should liaise with local communities to organise training programmes to train and educate TBAs on best practices attach community health workers to assist, monitor and ensure they adhere to care standard protocol, especially in the case of complications. This will go a long way to ensure that poor women access affordable quality care during pregnancy and childbirth.
Affordable antenatal care initiatives
Government at all levels concerned health organisations (both local and international) should launch antenatal initiatives like free antenatal consultations, distribution of maternal kits etc., to reduce the financial burdens of medical care.
Hospitals should adopt affordable health packages like group antenatal care, telemedicine, virtual antenatal meetings etc., to reduce the cost of antenatal care for poor women and make antenatal care accessible to working-class pregnant women.
Government-led grassroots awareness
Government, at all levels, should leverage traditional and religious leaders to bring grassroots awareness on the benefits of antenatal care. The awareness programmes should be targeted at breaking the socio-cultural and religious beliefs that inhibit women from accessing modern healthcare.
If possible, the government should initiate policies that give women the right to make decisions concerning their health and every other aspect of their lives.
Involve Husbands
Research has shown that women whose husbands accompany them to antenatal care visits are more likely to commit to instructions given to them by the doctor. Their husbands become their accountability partners, and more importantly, they know what to do if a complication arises at home.
What we do at DO
The Antenatal Accountability project by DO is a mobilisation campaign designed to ensure that pregnant women attend regular antenatal care visits to access and promote mother and child health, reducing maternal mortality. (NB: Accountability includes regular check-up calls on pregnant women to ensure they adhere to all guidelines such as rest, no lifting of heavy objects, medications, vaccinations, healthy eating, safe sex and no alcohol or smoke for a healthy mother and child).
To take action in curbing maternal and infant mortality in your community, click here.
To sponsor or donate to the Antenatal accountability projects in your community, click here.
Period Poverty: The Plight of Poor Women and Girls in Nigeria
We all have our ‘period’ stories. For some of us, we started out with sanitary cloths, wrappers, napkins and eventually pads. For some, they started using pads from the first day they saw their period. But not every girl is that lucky.
Statistics has it that about 1.2 billion women and girls across the world do not have access to menstrual hygiene products. To manage their menses, these unfortunate women and girls either isolate themselves at home (some cultures even have huts detached from the home where girls stay during their menses), use unsafe, unhygienic and unsanitary improvisations like leaves, rags, old clothes and wrappers, pieces of cloths and what-have-you.
Just in case you are at loss on what ‘period’ is, let me enlighten you.
Period is another word for menstruation which refers to normal vaginal bleeding that occurs as part of a woman’s monthly cycle. A woman’s body prepares for pregnancy every month, and if no pregnancy occurs, the uterus, or womb, sheds its lining. The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly tissue from inside the uterus.
So, what is period poverty?
Period poverty refers to inadequate access to good menstrual hygiene management and education, which encompasses sanitary products to absorb the flow of blood, washing facilities to change menstrual materials and wash, and waste disposal to properly dispose of used menstrual materials.
The burden of period poverty
1. Widespread illiteracy of the womenfolk
Research has shown that 1 in 10 African girls miss school because of period poverty. This partly explains why the illiteracy level of women in Nigeria was at level of 61.9 % as at 2018.
Due to lack of access to sanitary products, many girls resort to unhygienic materials like old wrappers, tissues, foams, newspapers, even leaves. The materials are susceptible to leaks, and as such, cause these girls to miss school, even sometimes, their examinations. This reflects poorly on their performance and sometimes lead to them dropping out of school. Little wonder girls make up 60% of the 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, according to 2013 National Democracy and Health Survey.
2. Reduction of productivity and social participation of women
Asides the inadequate access to sanitary products, lack of access to clean washing facilities in schools, workplaces and social institutions contribute to period poverty.
Schoolgirls are discouraged from attending school during their period so as to avoid the discomfort of changing their menstrual materials in dirty washrooms. Some of them even prefer to carry their menstrual materials for long resulting into embarrassment from blood stains. This amounts to distraction and underperformance.
Working women may not be permitted to miss work on account of inadequate washrooms, but they will be uncomfortable, anxious and always conscious of blood stains; thereby reducing their productivity.
Also, it reduces the social participation and engagement of women in social and religious gatherings, and activities, further reinforcing the myth that men are more socially active than women.
3. Continuous discrimination of women and girls
It has been known that some cultures and religions isolate girls and women when they are menstruating; they are not allowed to touch food or attend religious gatherings. Women are regarded as unclean and unholy and are confined to a detached room or hut until their period is over. These practices are predicated on the foul smell and sight resulting from a lack of menstrual hygiene management. As far as period poverty continues to exist, women and girls in such communities will never rise from discrimination.
In such communities, when a girl starts seeing her period, she is deemed sexually mature and becomes a target of sexual harassment and abuse. Most girls don’t finish their primary education before being married off to, most times, men old enough to be their father.
4. Susceptibility to Infection and other health complications
Period poverty forces women and girls to use unhealthy practices which are detrimental to their health. The use of rags, unsterilised clothing, wrapper, tissue etc. exposes them to disease-causing bacteria. Also, when they make use of inadequate public washrooms, they are exposed to germs. It has been known that some poor teenage girls give transactional sex to afford sanitary products; they could contract a disease in the process.
These exposures can result in serious complications to a woman’s reproductive health, for example, endometriosis; an infection of the lining of the womb. Such infection can result in pelvic inflammatory diseases which causes discomfort, vaginal discharge, pain, vaginal discharge, tube blockages, barrenness and other fatal health complications. The situation is particularly dire for women and girls in prisons, camps and war-torn countries.
And as you know, lack of proper waste management for the disposal of used sanitary products can also create an environment for germs and diseases to thrive in impoverished communities.
Period poverty also has psychological and emotional overtone. For some, it is a cause of depression, irritation and sadness. For another, it erodes their self-confidence and esteem, resulting in an inferiority complex.
What to Do
1. Removal of tax on pads
Sanitary products cost a fortune, about $1.30 for a pack. Taking into cognisance that 44% of Nigerians make less than $1.90 per day, it is an expensive luxury that poor women and girls cannot afford. Therefore, the Nigerian government should follow in the shoes of the Kenyan government and remove tax on sanitary products to make them more affordable to impoverished communities.
2. Provision of free sanitary products
Contraceptives/condoms are distributed free of charge by government-funded organisations and health groups. I consider this a misplacement of priority.
Why?
Well, sex is a choice. Anyone who decides to have sex should shoulder the financial responsibility of getting contraceptives for him/herself. But, on the other hand, menstruation is a basic reality of womanhood. Access to menstrual hygiene management should be treated as a basic human right for every woman and girl.
Therefore, the government at all levels should support and fund more menstrual hygiene management initiatives than condom-donating ones.
3. Awareness of period poverty
Despite the burden of period poverty, there is little awareness about it locally and globally. Menstruation is usually discussed in hushed tones and behind closed doors so that the menfolk don’t hear about it.
This is wrong.
If we must demystify the stigma attached to menstruation, it is imperative to embark on grassroots awareness and sensitisation campaigns on menstruation and menstrual hygiene management.
Everyone should be aware of it; fathers, husbands, brothers, male colleagues and counterparts.
4. Menstrual education for young girls
It is despicable that most teenage girls only learn about menstruation when they first experience it. As a result, they are not mentally prepared or equipped with relevant knowledge on managing it.
This is a clarion call to mothers, teachers, INGOs and NGOs to initiate programmes to educate and inform young girls on how their body works, lecture them on menstruation and equip them with relevant knowledge for menstrual hygiene management.
5. Affordable and sustainable sanitary products
In the last decade, there has been an awareness of the advantages of reusable pads; they are cost-effective and, as the name suggests, reusable.
Concerned NGOs and INGOs should reach impoverished and underserved communities and train them on how to produce reusable pads using locally sourced materials. It will go a long way to reduce period poverty in poor communities.
Menstrual cups are another affordable sanitary product that is affordable and can be reused many times. Menstrual cups are easy to maintain and especially beneficial to women who suffer menstrual cramps and have a heavy flow. If possible, free menstrual cups should be donated to poor women and girls in place of sanitary pads because they can last for about 3 years.
6. Provision of menstrual hygiene facilities
Schools, offices and social institutions should be mandated by a government policy to provide adequate, gender-exclusive washrooms with enough supply of soap and water. This will ensure that women and girls are able to tend to their sanitary needs comfortably without fear of infection.
What we do at DO
The Monthly Visitor Project by DO is a sensitization workshop to teach adolescent girls how to make their own reusable sanitary pads in rural and semi-rural communities. Here at DO-Take Action, our Grassroots Development Champions (GDCs) carry out these workshops in their respective communities to educate women and girls on menstruation and safe menstrual practices and teach them how to make reusable pads.
What is your response to period poverty in Nigeria?
Become a Grassroots Development Champion (GDC) today and take action to eradicate period poverty in your community.
To become a Grassroots Development Champion, click here.
To partner with us or sponsor Pad Project in your community, click here.
Promise Ubanatu turns her pastime hobby into a spectacular brand
Promise Ubanatu started off like most Nigerian youths, having her life planned out for her by her parents. As fate may have it, a stray interest in fashion started peeking up randomly, pointing her to a different path. A pragmatic lady, she invested in learning fashion during her service year. Now, years after school, she is chiselling that stray interest into a fast-rising fashion brand.
Let’s hear her story.
Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Promise Nzubechukwu Ubanatu. I hail from Anambra state but I’m currently based in Abuja. I am a graduate of the Federal University of Technology Owerri where I studied Biotechnology. However, I work as a Beauty Advisor at a cosmetics company, and also a Fashionpreneur.
Let's talk about your childhood. What was it like?
Childhood was bitter-sweet. My dad died before I was born. So it was sort of tough growing up. But I had my good days. Being raised by a single mother is not all Roses in the park that’s for sure
At what point did you decide that your current career/business is what you want to do?
I never decided on what I wanted to do. Or should I say, I never decided the job I am doing now is what I would want to do. I was looking for a job, and this was available. So, I took it. It’s not really what I want to do.
But, as for my business, I have always loved fashion. I knew I was going to do it someday. So, after graduation, before NYSC, when I was waiting for NYSC callup letter, I learnt how to sew from a street tailor. During NYSC, I continued learning how to sew, but I went to a fashion school this time around. So, I was serving and using my ‘allawee’ to pay for my training.
Since you say you are a beauty advisor and a fashion entrepreneur, how did you make a switch from biotechnology, to the beauty and fashion world? What triggered the transition?
The economic situation of the country. Kinda difficult to land the right jobs
That’s 100% true. So, are you a beautician for the money or do you have future plans for it?
For the money. But it’s an industry I see myself going into in the future. It’s lucrative
What inspired you to start a fashion business? Tell us the story
I’ve always loved to play dress-up. I always like to be myself and look good. I mean, dress up, look good, look beautiful. Uhm… I like to walk into a place and, you know, get everyone’s attention with what I am wearing.
How I knew it was something I wanted to do is, there is this love I just have for fabric, clothes, fashion. When I’m less busy or I can’t sleep, or I just want to be happy, what I do is surf the internet going through styles, clothing, fabrics, looking at fashion brands, and then screenshotting a bunch and a ton of these pictures. I’ve been doing that for years even though I didn’t even know how to make clothes or sew.
During my early days in the university, my gallery was filled up with pictures of different styles, clothes, fabrics, and in my mind, I was like, one day, I am going to make all of these by myself. So, it was something that kept me happy.
Back then, you’ll see my mates going online, looking for blogs, gossip blogs, Instagram, Facebook, and all of that. But for me, I just go online to surf through clothes, fashion, styles, and all of that, even though I didn’t have the means to actually dress the way I wanted to dress (I was a student), or I didn’t even know how to sew. I just kept screenshotting pictures with the hope that one day I will actually learn to sew and make these clothes for myself.
Also, I am plus-sized. So, it’s kinda difficult to find… actually, it wasn’t difficult finding my size, but it was difficult finding a perfect fit. Uhm, and then also when it comes to making clothes with tailors, they don’t actually…. I didn’t see anyone that actually get my style and get what I really want. There was always one issue or the other. So I felt this is another reason to just do this for myself. And so that was the initial plan, and that was how the whole thing started.
So, after university, while I was waiting for callup letter, I decided to start, and then when I went for NYSC, I decided to continue from there. And I bought my first sewing machine with my ‘allawee’, and now I have two sewing machines; an industrial one and the first one I bought, the manual one. It was a sacrifice; it was not easy. I was receiving N19,800, but I was still able to take out N5,000 every month to pay for my training and was still able to save up to buy myself a sewing machine. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
What's your brand name?
Pehn_couture but this is subject to change. I’ll be doing a major rebranding.
Who does your fashion business tailor to?
Women. For now. Major audience, plus size but not limited to them.
And what are your plans for the business in the nearest future?
From tailoring to designs to styling to shoes and accessories to fashion school to textile production to cosmetics by God’s grace
Does your brand have a major theme or style?
Yes. Afrocentric giving off modest vibes
What do you think has been instrumental to your level of success?
Fear of failure, consistency, constant learning and practice and God. Though I don’t consider myself successful yet. Still have a long way to go
What bias have you had to deal with in your career/business and how did you overcome them?
When I started out in my company I had a whole lot of competition to deal with and being someone who doesn’t care for such it was a problem. Also, I had issues warming up to the clients because of the girl syndrome
I am still overcoming and learning but the trick Is to just be humble and first warm-up with your colleagues and let them help you out with the clients. Also, study your colleagues’ approach and look for ways to stand out on your own
What do you see yourself doing in the next ten years?
Owning my fashion brand and textile factory. Also, maybe starting out my own skincare brand. I’m also looking forward to having my PhD.
What is the one thing you want everyone to know about you?
I have fears. I’m not a superhuman. And I don’t have it all figured out
Thank you for chatting with me.
The story of Promise Ubanatu proves that life is really what you make out of it, and destiny is what we make out of what we are given. She could have continued to wander the street of Nigeria searching for the ever-scarce white-collar job, but she rather chose to capitalize on her burgeoning interest in fashion and later turned it into a business.
Her business also gave her the platform to affect the lives of girls in her community. She partnered with DO to carry out a Pad project where she taught 30 girls how to make reusable pads. Those girls will never again experience period poverty in their lifetime.
What have you been given?
What are you making out of it?
Be like Promise.
Turn your passion into a business, and impact lives in the process.
Improving the Productivity of Rural Women for Economic Gains
The women of Adeke community in Benue State will forever be grateful to Dorothy Akende for spearheading a project that installed ten grinding machines in the community, empowered ten women and improved the productivity of 3000.
Before the grinding machines came, the women of Adeke, who are predominantly farmers, used to spend 1-2 hours daily and over 11,000 hours cumulatively per month crushing maize, millet and beans to flour using the local grinding stone, something that can take about 3 minutes with a grinding machine.
This is just one of many challenges women face every day that reduces their productivity. For the women of Adeke community, it was grinding staple foods with stone. For another, it could be a lack of access to credit loans to support their business. For another, it could be a lack of adequate maternal and childcare facilities.
When we talk about improving women’s productivity, we are not referring to setting up a hedge fund for women (though that wouldn’t be a bad idea) or donating bags of salt and rice to them.
Rather we are talking about enacting policies legislatures and putting up social infrastructures, facilities and amenities that will improve the overall wellbeing of women to enable them to become productive in their business and professional pursuits.
Challenges that hamper rural women’s productivity and its ripple economic effects
Lack of access to productive resources
Agriculture is the mainstay of rural livelihood in production, processing, sales, and consumption. According to data from UN Women, rural women constitute a greater percentage of the agricultural workforce in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 60%. However, these women don’t have equal access to productive resources like fertilizers, feed, livestock, improved seed varieties, credit loans, mechanical equipment, extension services and agricultural education as their male counterparts.
Having access to these resources could empower these women to increase agricultural yields by 20 to 30 per cent, accumulating from 2.5 to 4 per cent of aggregate agricultural produce in developing nations, drastically reducing the population of hungry people in the world by 100 to 150 million. In relatable terms, this means healthier families, well-nourished children and less nutrition-deficiency diseases.
Limiting inheritance and family laws
How do we even start talking about access to productive resources when most women cannot even have land to their name? Across different ethnic and cultural groups in Nigeria, women do not have the right to own properties, and they are not even considered eligible for inheritance in their own families. If they are widows, they are usually not entitled to any inheritance, except in the case of a written will and/or court marriage. Even when they decide to buy landed properties for themselves, they are obliged to put it under their husbands’ names.
Rural women are the most affected by this cultural belief because they are less educated, less exposed, less informed and less empowered to insist on their rights. As a result, most rural women work on their family farm without pay and, most times, have no say as to how the proceeds of the farm are spent. This makes the women financially dependent on their husbands and economically handicapped.
Absence of enabling infrastructures and facilities
In Africa, it is an established norm that women are homemakers and caregivers. Women carry more of the reproductive, domestic and care burdens in their families. In fact, they are raised with that consciousness. But what is more sad is that they spend productive time carrying out these culturally assigned roles due to poor infrastructure and services. In rural communities, women trek to distant forests to fetch firewood for cooking, fetch water from faraway streams and spend substantial time in household work, childcare and reproductive duty to their husbands. These activities cut deep into their time, leaving little or no time for academic, business or professional pursuits.
Those who find time to get a job usually settle for less demanding and professionally less rewarding jobs to meet up with their daily obligations at home. As a result, the women don’t go far or dare for bigger stakes in their career/profession. The job is usually a means to supplement family income; no career prospects, no fulfilment, no substantial reward.
Restricted access to education
Illiteracy is a pandemic that limits and undermines the potential of any individual. Women, especially rural women, are the worst hit by this pandemic. And no, the illiteracy is not attributed to the lack of schools in the rural community; if that were the case, we would have equal stats of illiterate rural men and women. The illiteracy is predicated upon the patriarchal norm that a man preserves the name of a family, but a woman can be married off at any time. As a result, you find many families, especially in northern Nigerian, reluctant to send their girls to school, and even when they do, they don’t go beyond secondary education.
And this continues to be the case despite infallible evidence that educating the girl-child increases their options in life, helps them make better life choices, empowers them to pursue their dreams, increases their earning potential, attracts educated and informed spouses that won’t abuse them, and emboldens them to insist on their rights.
The benefits of educating the girl-child have broader and longer-term implications for families, communities and the world. Research has shown that a woman’s education is pivotal in determining whether her children will survive past the first five years of life. Educated women are equipped to support their families better financially and emotionally whilst contributing to a balanced and thriving society through their participation across the different sectors of society.
What to Do
Grassroots initiatives to erode the patriarchal systems
It is impossible to empower women without touching on the cultural and religious belief systems that treat women as second class citizens. To combat these limiting belief systems, grassroots initiatives should be launched in communities involving key stakeholders like religious organisations, social institutions, and government at their basest level.
At the fundamental level, parents should be educated that no gender is superior to the other; therefore, their children, whether male or female, deserve equal treatment and equal access to education and opportunities. There should be no gender roles in executing chores in the homes. Boys should be raised to see their female counterparts as equals, to treat them with respect and relate with them first as individuals. Parents should raise girls to aspire for more in life than marriage, to relate with their male counterparts as equals and challenge status quo that discriminate against them.
Provision of basic infrastructures
Putting up infrastructures like boreholes and taps, electricity, good road networks, grinding machines, toilet facilities etc., will go a long way in reducing the time women spend using local means to achieve these things. It will allow them to have more time for their farm work, business, job or even education whilst carrying out their culturally imposed duties.
Involving women in policy-making
It won’t be easy to draft policies that will ensure the well-being of women in society if women are not duly represented at the decision-making table. Therefore, it is imperative to involve more women in enacting legislation and policies at all levels of government; local, state and federal. This will ensure that adequate attention is drawn to the needs of women, and these needs are addressed from the women’s perspective with sustainable solutions.
Equal access to productive resources
Rural women should have equal access to credit facilities, improved seed variables, feed, livestock, mechanised equipment, extension services, and everything their male counterparts enjoy, making their farm work easier and more productive. The government should supervise stakeholders involved in the distribution to ensure gender parity is observed.
Pro-women policies that encourage equal rights to inheritance and properties
Policies that ensure women have equal rights to family inheritance and properties as their male counterparts should be enacted and enforced, especially at the grassroots level. Widows should be allowed to retain the right to the properties of their deceased husbands. Rural women should be allowed the right to buy and own properties in their own names.
Improve Her Productivity project is a 3-day skill development project for girls and women in Semi-rural and Urban Nigeria. Girls and women are trained in soft and hard skills to improve productivity. Skill development contributes to structural transformation and economic growth by enhancing the employability and labour productivity of women and girls in their communities.
Join us to improve the productivity of women and girls in your community.
To become a Grassroots Development Champion (GDC) click here.
To partner with us in setting up social infrastructures and facilities that will improve the productivity of women and girls, click here.