Women Activists From Nigeria

"I think for me, I was running more toward than away from something. And a year ago, it sounded like such a great idea to get my ass up at 1 a.m. to do morning radio"

"I left the broadcast news chair altogether and reliving this has been painful. Yet I am hopeful things can change. I speak up now for the women and women of color and people of color who are doing incredible work in public radio. They deserve to be treated fairly. They deserve for meritocracy to be more than a buzzword."

"Of course it has not been all gloom. Some Northern women have and are still doing remarkable work in journalism whose recognition go beyond the shores of Nigeria. The Hauwa Baba Ahmeds who graced our TV screens in the ’80s and early ’90s casting the NTA Network News and Bilkisu Yusuf quickly come to mind. Others include Hauwa Funtua, Fatima Abass, Aisha Bello Katung all of the NTA fame. We also had the likes of Kadaria Ahmed, Jamila Tangaza, Delu Mohammed, Grace Alkheri and Bilkisu Labaran who were practising on the international scene. These northern journalists were at various times with either the BBC or the VOA. Here the likes of Christian Amanpour of CNN and our own Nigerian born CNN Zain Asher."

"I don’t claim to have an answer for how to resolve this, what actions should be taken or how to prevent something like this from happening again. I do know, while I can go back to work in my peaceful place, the girls cannot; at least not this minute.I do know this atrocity is devastating. I hope the international community continues to condemn these acts and do all within international law to rescue these girls and disband the group apparently responsible; whose name I refuse to give ink to on my pages. I fervently hope that Nigerians will unite, step up and increase again the pressure on the government to crack down hard. And I can pray, foremost for the girl’s safe rescue. But I also pray for Nigeria."

"To achieve that change we envisage, we need to stop being passive."

"Success has a way of distorting your view. Keep winning, don't wallow in yesterday's success."

"every woman needs a voice to speak where she cannot speak and I made myself available."

"In life we all have that tinge of what we actually are on the inside."

"Passion for humanity and getting things done right and standing up to the ills of the society and speaking about them."

"Tomorrow will come with its color but what we want is that people should see the goodness in our vision and nothing more or less."

"We cannot keep doing something the same way and expect a different result."

"To achieve that dream society, we need to leave the comfortable corner of our room."

"I believe in free and fair elections, equity and a level playing ground. The circumstances that have shrouded events preceding this primaries have proven to be far from these ideals which I hold so dearly. It is expedient therefore for me to withdraw from this race which I believe is also in the interest of the party in the state"

"My husband being a governor should not affect my aspiration to become a senator. You know that the mistake that people make is that they are saying that after being First Lady, she wants to be senator. Look at our people’s mentality. I am saying that Emeabiam is a forgotten community and somebody is telling me that I am a First Lady. Because I feel that’s not how governance should be. Governance is about people caring for the well-being of people without exception."

"Today, the world is recognising the enormous role of women in the society. Women’s involvement has been identified as the panacea to achieving food security, ending malnutrition and ensuring social security."

"I want to quickly emphasis something at this juncture; it is part of awareness campaign. When a woman notices a lump, she doesn’t know what that lump is until she sees a doctor and he recommends a test; it is after that test she knows whether what she has is breast cancer or not. We have two types of cancer: the benign or the cancerous one, you never can tell the cancerous one until a test is conducted"

"I have a right to contest for any position in a place where I was born and I do not think that the constitution is against that. And if you look at things critically, as a married woman, looking at the time I got married, I was already a made young woman. My husband did not train me. I was trained by my parents who were teachers; they valued education for all their children irrespective of gender. They had no preference for the males, as it was the order of the day at that time. I do not know if things have really changed now. So, I did not see any discrimination against my gender when I was growing up. My parents trained me to be whatever I want to be. They invested in me very much. So, obviously, I am very much attached to where I come from. When I got married, I also understood what the challenges were as a girl child. I also understood that I needed to demonstrate that my parents’ investment in me wasn’t a loss."

"Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu has been working for the development of the community for a very long time. She deserves it and the entire Ezes in the Owerri West Federal Constituency have affirmed this. This is not a title anyone could have bought. It was given in recognition of her sterling qualities."

"Having built over 3,000 vibrant young women who are making waves on different fronts around the world, it is only ideal to build for these geniuses a place they all can call a home; a befitting edifice where the generations of Bemore girls would freely meet, interact and make things happen."

"Her Excellency is blessed with the rarely combined qualities of resilience and grit. She also undying faith in her enlightenment message of early detection and management of breast and cervical cancers. Also, Mrs Akeredolu has over the years developed a project in a strategic manner to address various challenges facing the family system within Ondo State. She has also deployed her time and resources for adequate empowerment of the girl child within and outside of Ondo State"

"We need to give every body an equal opportunity, we need to give a level playing field for women, they are just like us, just vulnerable because of circumstance , it could be anyone of us. It is inherent in every society that midwives are present and in abundance and in Ogun we have a rapid decline."

"We have a prebendal politics, we reward people producing little based on loyalty which is rewarded , and this produces a dysfunctional system where people for instance in the Civil Service are rewarded not on the bases of work done but it is based on those who you favour and nobody is held responsible for things like leakages because everything goes"

"As important as education is to a child, our focus should not only be on the academic aspects alone but on their social, athletic, emotional, psychological development and much more. These are equally important and necessary for all-round development."

"So, when you’re voting, you’re not voting the individual but the party, which will in turn ensure women comprise 35% of the list created for position. In every country where an increase in governance has happened for women, the party list was used. Now, it is left for voters to look at the party list and decide to vote for a party based on their likeness for whoever catches their fancy on the party list. So, the seats won by each party will now be proportionally distributed to candidates, but ensuring by law that 35% of the distribution goes to women."

"Often times in Nigeria we say we have a lot of educated graduates but we haven’t looked at the content of these graduates in terms of the know-how. If you go today and say look I’m having a problem with my maize. This year something is eating up the leaves of my maize, caterpillars or worms or something… And you say you’re looking for people who know what to do in Nigeria, it will amaze you that with all the graduates in agriculture you wouldn’t find someone who knows what to do."

"There is no wholesome condemnation or commendation because there is no society that is wholly good or wholly bad, If you want to change that situation, you have to come in there and change it, If we do not have a dominant counter force in the system, the system will continue to support its own, it will continue to define itself in the way it is defined. The beneficiaries of the system will continue to benefit from the system."

"The other reason you can read into things like this is some level of hostility over something. I am not suggesting I know of any problem between both countries but it’s not unusual for countries to harden their stance towards each other, to draw attention to something that is probably hurting one party at another level. I think we may have to look beyond the surface."

"I am a member of the National Assembly inclined to make changes happen in the National Assembly but I will not succeed, I know it, I regret it, I sympathise with myself that I will not succeed. Why? Because I do not form a critical mass.I will remain an obedient participant without necessarily doing what they are doing. That is the reality. In politics you have to belong somewhere and that is why you have to stand on the platform of the party, you don’t (stand) outside of it and you have to represent it somehow."

"The number of poor people have rather increased. Nigerians should run away from APC because they have compounded the socio-economic woes of Nigerians. Vote them out of power"

"There are inhibitors which make it difficult for women to come out. The first thing you are told when you come into politics is to go and bring your money, you this prostitute! So the whole engagement with women takes more than ordinary courage to come out and become part of what is happening in governance. It is not an easy journey for women and society is not making it easier. So these bills are attempting to make it easier for women to come out. We are asking the National Assembly to step back, take a deep breath, reflect again on the five clauses that we wanted."

"It is the duty of authorities to ensure that people can freely express critical opinions, without fear of reprisals."

"The failure of Nigerian authorities to release the report of the Presidential Panel that purportedly investigated compliance of armed forces with human rights obligations and rules of engagement, three years after the report was submitted to the President is a gross display of contempt for victims."

"Amnesty International is an impartial organisation. We are non-political and do not support any particular regulatory arm. We do our report without fear and favour. What that means is that whatever position we take is based on human rights principles. We recognise the work we do and that some people might disagree with our approach, but we always explain the methodology of the research that we do and also how we carry out those activities"

"The representatives have security operatives allocated to them; they would consider the risk of targeting such a high profile person compared to the villagers who they can easily overwhelm. So, it is really about letting the leadership know that it is not about personal interest, but public interest. And when the people are crying, you have a responsibility to address it. We have had situations when officials heard about a crisis and simply hired more security officials instead of tackling the issue so you don’t need to spend more money on your personal security. It is that awareness about public security that we really need to get the lawmakers, governors, and President to pay attention to."

"Working with local civil society organizations and the human rights community, Amnesty International Nigeria will campaign for accountability and safeguards for victims of human rights violations. Protecting human rights in Nigeria is crucial and will have wider impact across the continent."

"I will say that access to justice in Nigeria is still crawling, especially for women victims of violence. There are a lot of cultural taboos around women’s bodily integrity which is already a barrier to accessing the services they need."

"Education is under attack in northern Nigeria. Schools should be places of safety, and no child should have to choose between their education and their life. Other children have had to abandon their education after being displaced by frequent violent attacks on their communities, and many teachers have been forced to flee to other states. The Nigerian authorities must act immediately to prevent attacks on schools, to protect children’s lives and their right to education."

"I haven’t looked back in terms of using not only my legal skills but my knowledge as a civil society actor in order to ensure that people use these institutions in order to pursue justice, but also to bring the voices of women and girls to these conversations. Oftentimes when peace or security is being discussed, or when people are talking about justice, women and girls are not decision-makers, and I thought that by adding my voice and my expertise, I can raise the visibility of the issues of women and girls as well."

"You are our fathers, our brothers and sons. Yet most of the violent sexual crimes committed against women are being perpetrated by boys and men. We need to educate our young boys and encourage them to be protectors and not perpetrators"

"“Unfortunately, the majority of Nigerians, especially the youths who fought with patriotism to reset their country through the ballot box, are now wondering if elections have not become the tool for legitimizing the corrupt takeover of Nigeria. This dark cloud of angst arising from a terribly mismanaged 2023 general elections has jolted the confidence and hope of many Nigerians, thus propelling us as Citizens of Conscience to take the bold step of beginning to resist and mitigate the intended and unintended crisis looming over our dear country.Therefore, we condemn the outright manipulation of the electoral process and abdication of responsibility by INEC as it has not only destroyed trust in the democratic process, but has rewarded wrongdoing, making it possible for persons of stupendous wealth, who lack legitimacy, to become the real beneficiaries of our electoral process."

"I know the deputy Governor better than most people seated here today because we went to primary and secondary schools together but, I never influenced her emergence as deputy governor, but, I was very happy when she emerged. I am sure she will be a fantastic deputy governor because I am confident of her intelligence."

"It is therefore, imperative to bridge the skills gap in employment opportunities and sell social-economic transformation and reduce poverty."

"SDG 4 is all children are given the opportunity of receiving quality education and my dear husband the governor, Dapo Abiodun’s administration is actively working to reform the educational system in the state."

"I don’t want you to give up when you have problems, problems are bound to happen in any business, things will happen that will discourage you, but make yourself better, render a service better than what others do."

"I have confidence that I will win, that I will get justice, that is why I came to court and as a lawyer, I know how the system works, I am not seeing any foul play bearing in mind the administrative bottlenecks. I know I will get justice."

"“In addressing the issue of ICT, the centre runs a girls’ coding programme to connect young girls and women to the information super highway and enable them to explore opportunities available in the sector."

"we cannot do without ICT in this dispensation, so, that is why we adopted this convention of training women with disability since Dec. 13, 2006, seeing the world has gone digital."

"There is no controversial journalist; every journalist puts a story out that might be too hard for some people’s ears"

"It is very common for Nigerian men to think that all a woman wants is good sex but we don’t need that to get what we want out of life."

"It has been very rewarding and fulfilling in the sense that as a woman myself and one who has always been at the forefront of ensuring the welfare of women, it was not a new terrain for me to listen and proffer solutions to the myriad of issues bedevilling Nigerian women, using the instruments of government. Looking back, I would say we were able to make remarkable progress and I am satisfied with what the government has been able to achieve under my watch."