By Kayode Crown
|
The Forum of Wives of Ondo State Officials and Political Appointees, FOWOSO, the initiative of the First Lady of Ondo State, Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu clocked one year last week.

Driven by the indefatigable wife of the State Governor, it has served to meet the needs of over 2000 women in the hinterland who have been empowered with skills, money and equipment to improve their economic status.

It not only improved the economic power of women at the grassroots, but also promoted healthy living, with medical check-up and health education forming an integral part of the programme.

The forum was officially launched December 7, 2017, and within one year, many lives have been changed. It was set up to: enlist the participation of Ondo State women in the socio-economic development of the state; to address the growing concerns of women’s low contribution to development; to galvanise women across the 18 Local government areas for self and general development; To organise monthly outreaches also known as Gbebiro; to organise an annual conference at the state capital and to see to the socio-economic development of the women of the state.

To mark one year of FOWOSO, a summit was organised last week. On the first day of the summit held at the International Culture and Event Centre, the Dome, Mrs Akeredolu brought to the fore her concern for women liberation in all its ramifications.

She said: “Let me make it emphatically clear today; it is to no one’s benefit to suppress the abilities of women by denying them quality education, marrying them off against their will and confining them to the kitchen. The statistics are clear; nations that have risen to become world giants today are nations that invested significantly in their human resources, females and males alike, without bias. Everyone must be allowed to unleash their potentials without preference to any particular gender.

“How do we expect to develop if women, who make up more than half of the entire population, are restricted to kitchen duties and child rearing only, and are then expected to, like serfs, totally depend on their husbands for every need?

“It is simple economics; a high dependency ratio automatically results to stalled development. Knowing this, I have dedicated my life to driving gender equality, not because I love female folk more, but because I seek growth and advancement of humanity as a whole.

“Women can and should fully participate in engineering the development of our country. Although, the older women have lost many years to silence and passiveness towards national development, I believe that it is not too late for them to be involved which is why we initiated the coming together of women in Ondo State.

“The FOWOSO women are proving to the world that women can drive economic growth in any nation. Everyone should know that Ondo women are now limitless, we are unstoppable.”

She said the initiative has been impactful through its activities in the last one year as it had carried out skill acquisition, empowerment and health awareness programmes.

The anniversary summit themed: “Unlocking Hidden Potentials in Women” and the grand finale was held at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Arcade, Akure, on the Thursday, 6th December, where Mrs Akeredolu appreciated all whose contributions “are helping to further the attaining of FOWOSO empowerment visions.”

In Ondo East LGA where FOWOSO visited in June, Mrs Akeredolu reiterated the focus of FOWOSO to be about empowering women and young people across the state, and intervening in practical ways in people’s lives.

She said: “FOWOSO is about women and we believe that women have a role to play in our community, society and the country at large.

“Women form about 50 percent of the whole population but God-given potentials of women are not utilised due to societal belief.”

As an evangelist of women liberation from the shackles of limiting societal beliefs, segregation and limitations, she went to Ondo East with that message, to reawaken the warrior in the women and restore their self belief, courage and confidence.

She said: “Now, we women are ready to play our part and contribute  meaningfully to the society we live in but there must be enabling environment for this to manifest which is why we want to have more women in decision making positions. We must begin to appreciate that we can be part of the socio-economic growth of Nigeria.”

She seeks to herald the hour when women would no longer be at the background but take their veritable place in all spheres of life, no longer pushed back and be told she is not good enough because of her gender, as if her gender is a curse.

“In this administration, there must be a paradigm shift – and it must begin with skill acquisition and empowerment of the women to be productive,” Mrs Akeredolu declared.

At the Ondo East FOWOSO empowerment event, which had now taken the First Lady across the 18Local Governments in the state, she said that testimonies were already coming and women in other LGAs earlier visited were utilising the skills they had acquired through the initiative to better their lives.

Laptops were distributed to some youths, and the First Lady used the opportunity to open their eyes to the world of ICT and what is possible there. Certificates were also given to those who were trained in different skills.

In all the 18 local governments visited, women and youths took delivery of grinding machines, wheelchairs for the handicapped, sewing machines, hair dryers and laptops. People were successfully trained in the following areas: bead making, wig making, shoe making, bag making, soap making and cosmetology and given the certificate to indicate the success of the training and their proficiency.

The women were expected to employ the various skills gained after being trained by FOWOSO’s agents to contribute to the socio-economic development of their families and community as a whole, to change their stories, raise themselves up the economic ladder.

In tandem with her agenda for the transformation of lives, those who have already learnt hairdressing and tailoring but were not financially equipped enough to start were given hair-dryers and sewing machines respectively so that they can start making money immediately.

Mrs Akeredolu had pursued the empowerment of the vulnerable people in the society with a single minded devotion, and that has been largely responsible for the resounding success the programme achieved.

Poor women were helped to not remain so, but were equipped with skills through which they can immediately start making money, for example soap making.

People use soap all the time for their laundry needs, therefore there is a ready customers for the product where the women live.

And there is bead making, which meets the need of their fellow womenfolk to look beautiful through adorning of the ornaments.

There is also bag and shoe making, which are also daily necessity for people. So the women are trained to create products with a ready market around. And the participants can work right from their own house. That this initiative is a product of a great mind is plain for all to see.

The Olu of Igbokoda in his remarks, when FOWOSO held the empowerment event at Ilaje Local Government Area, made a poignant observation while receiving the first Lady in his palace, saying: “The direct implementation of your FOWOSO programmes shows that your excellency is very sensitive to the pain of women within the state. Were this programme to have been effected through politicians, perhaps only their families would have benefited.”

In her speech at Idanre, the first lady said: “There is need to empower women with skills that will make them economically independent and to empower our young ones so that they will be part of the equation in the digital world.

“As we train our women in the skills that will earn them steady income from the use of grinding machines, make-up kits, among others, we also educate them on health related issues, so that they can be healthy in contributing meaningfully to the socio economic development of the state.

“We are also doing this because if women are given the chance, they can contribute productively to the economic development of the country.

“The greatest mistake any country can make is failure to carry women along because aside cooking and making babies, women can do better if economically empowered.

“This is why FOWOSO will always work towards empowering women because they can do a lot when they are empowered, We are not fighting men but we want women to also be relevant in building families financially towards having peaceful homes.”

While at in Akoko South West LGA, the first lady told the audience at African Church Grammar School, Oka Akoko that, “What we are doing here today is historic- some of these women have been trained in different skills. We are going to give them start up tools and with it, they will perfect themselves. And for those who already have skills and don’t have capital to start up, we will provide for them.”

That within 12 months, 18 local government areas have been traversed and impacted, making it an average of 1.5 LGAs per month, marks the initiative as definitely beyond the call of duty but a cause that is being pursued by the first lady for the betterment of others, who would otherwise might be left to pine away.

It is a tireless pursuit for the betterment of the female folks. It has been a race against time to reach as many people are possible with empowerment and liberation, turning their economic tide for the better. Making them more useful to the society, and experiencing financial liberty.

At the launch of the programme last year, Mrs Akeredolu said: “Among FOWOSO objectives is to develop and execute programmes that would build capacity in the young and old women in this great state.

“We aim to stand for, advocate and create equal opportunity for the women of the state and show that they are prepared to take charge when called upon. We are here to develop the human capacity of women in the state.

“As we know, only 50percent of working age women are represented in the labour force globally, compared with 76percent of men and we still have more men employed than women especially in skilled labour despite women outnumbering men in population statistics and living longer; the only way we can challenge this to have an impact on the economy is to change our mind set and develop human capital of our women and also prioritise the eduction of our children.

“This is where FOWOSO becomes relevant. We cannot sit back and expect the government to champion these. We are wives and mothers are role models of all the females in the state. It is apparent that the glass ceiling engineered to limit women can be broken through. We owe it to our children and that their children ensure that they are effectively developed in preparing our women to be effective leaders in the economic section of the society.”

A notable thing happened in Ondo West LGA in November, which greatly moved the first lady, where a completely blind woman was trained on how to make beads through FOWOSO, and can now make different beads, was brought.

Mrs Akeredolu said: “I became very emotional when the picture of the blind woman making beads was sent to me and I have decided that her beads will be used by all FOWOSO members, including myself in order to showcase to the state and the world at large one of the many benefits of the FOWOSO programme.”

It is therefore clear that for the For the first lady, FOWOSO is more than a job, its a passion.