The Minister of Women Affairs, Barrister Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has since assumption of office over one year ago, displayed much zeal and passion towards discharging her duties, though not without controversies and criticisms.
The gender equity gaps in the country and the high expectation to meet the multi-dimensional needs of women have set the Ministry of Women Affairs on global resonance, in pursuance of a global gender parity goal.
However, since its creation in 1995, the mandate to shoulder the responsibility of advancing women’s causes has made the position of Minister in this ministry, one that requires a leader with a deep understanding of the portfolio and issues that affect constituents, with competent and effective leadership skills.
Weekend Trust in this report chronicles the many controversies of Nigeria’s women affairs minister, Uju Kennedy- Ohanenye, since her assumption of office on August 20, 2023.
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Disrupting ‘unauthorised’ events
On two incidents, the minister of women affairs disrupted ongoing events, which had guests and participants in attendance.
In video clips which went viral on social media, the minister, on both occasions, stalled two events by informing the guests and participants, that they were not approved by her ministry.
These disruptions stirred mixed reactions among Nigerians, as some supported her stance, believing her actions highlight the misuse of funds on events that don’t have direct impact on women’s lives.
However, others criticised her approach, viewing it as aggressive and disruptive. They argue that her methods could be counterproductive and create unnecessary tension.
Recall that on the 8th of August 2024, Barrister Uju Kennedy Ohanenye, made headlines over her interruption of an event, reportedly organised by Mela-Chiyoma Pat Limited titled; “Unveiling the power of women and food security”. The event, said to be organised without the approval of the ministry of women affairs saw the organiser arrested by the Department of State Service (DSS).
She added that “After we wrote that we were cancelling, the president approved that we should cancel until further notice; she still went ahead to print this thing.”
“I can’t allow this program to move on. I am sorry about it because this is pure impersonation, and the president is not happy about it. I am saying this. Let the media cover it; I don’t care. You don’t do this. You don’t take the ministry for granted.”
Flaring up during Reps probe of 1.5 Billion Naira
In July, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy engaged in an exchange of words with the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, over alleged diversion of N1.5 billion meant for payment of contractors.
The face-off occurred during an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives committee in order to probe the N1.5 billion, which was said to be expended by the ministry of women affairs.
The minister, who flared up in the process, said that only 30 per cent of the N1.5 billion was paid to the ministry, but she could not give an account of how the money was spent because according to her, the First Lady, Remi Tinubu, had told her to mind her business.
When questioned about her claim of not being aware of money that was paid to her ministry, she said that the total sum was not released which was part of why the contractors are being owed.
“If not that the money for this year has been delayed, I’m sure we wouldn’t be here today, because we could have paid out some of these liabilities. But since this year, no project money has been released to any ministry. And that was a constraint,” she said.
Committee member, Marie Nenemete Ebikake, asked the minister about the African First Lady Peace Mission project which cost about N500 million. She asked the minister to tell the Committee how the money was used, where the project was located, and who were the people involved.
The minister responded by explaining that the N150 million that was appropriated in 2023 was given to the former first lady, Aisha Buhari, who eventually told her it was meant for the purchase of a generator.
“About the First Lady’s funds, the N500 million you were talking about, I wasn’t there when it happened. When I came in, I saw it on the Appropriation Act. And I went to my First Lady. We discussed it; she said that particular money was not meant for her”, she said.
The Niger mass wedding saga
The women affairs minister had slammed a lawsuit against the speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, following his announcement to marry off 100 orphaned girls in his state. On this same issue, the minister petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
She had during a press briefing told reporters that the move was “unacceptable”, assuring that a full-scale investigation had commenced on the issue.
However, after backlash from stakeholders, the minister retraced her steps by withdrawing the charge against the speaker and backing the mass wedding in the state.
The pink rider tricycle scheme
As part of her programmes to empower Nigerian women, Barrister Kennedy, in a press statement published on her X(twitter) handle on the 8th of June 2024 titled, “FG Unveils Pink riders tricycle scheme” stirred reactions from Nigerians. Some of the comments under her post were as follows;
@Comr_Biara “This one is confused, gather experts and pay them to brainstorm development ideas for you, why will mothers be riding tricycles?”
@ALHASSANMU72205 “Why not train them on marketable skills and give them all it takes to start, rather than making them tricycle riders, which will indeed affect the upbringing of their kids”
@thefrayzone1111 “Good morning, Madam. I got to know about you when I saw your initiative on charity on AIT back in the days.
I see the same charity mentality at play in this your pink riders scheme. It’s not a noble initiative. I don’t see any benefit in it”.
Brokering peace between “warring” Kaduna communities
Not until the Kaduna State government released a statement on the 6th of November 2023, signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Muhammad Lawal Shehu, to debunk the claims of the minister of women affairs, the ministry was celebrating the ‘feat’ of ending a 20-year-old crisis in three communities of the state.
The minister of women affairs had on her X handle @BarrUjuKennedy on the 2nd of November, posted about a “historic breakthrough as the ministry brokered peace among three warring communities of Koro, Hausa and Fulani in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State to end a 20-year-old crisis through mechanised communal farming activities”. It added that “the Ministry will provide 100 acres of land for high-yield rice and potato farming to re-channel the energy of indigenes to farming instead of war”.
However, her claim was swiftly debunked by the Kaduna State government, which said there was no crisis in the mentioned local government areas and that the minister had been deceived by members of an opposition party.
The state government also expressed disappointment and shock at what it called the minister’s lack of professionalism and verification.
“The minister, without verifying their bogus claims and in the absence of officials from Kagarko Local Government and the Kaduna State government, made official pronouncements, and went to the ridiculous extent of promising parcels of land and even seedlings to the conspirators.”
Before the reaction by the state government was released, some Nigerians who commented under her social media post questioned the claims of the minister, especially regarding the provision of land,
asking if it was within her jurisdiction to carry out such an act. Some of the comments are as follows;
@drkabirualiyu “HM, Pls the communities of Kagarko LGA were never, ever, at war”.
@tundemanuel2 “Pls where are you going to get the land from?”
Meanwhile, since the rebuttal by the Kaduna State government, there has been no response by the minister on the matter.
Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Abuja, Abubakar Umar Kari, who spoke to Weekend Trust, expressed concern over the minister’s action. While he recalled her threats to sue the United Nations, Kari said that it seemed “she likes fishing in trouble waters and also doubling in areas outside her jurisdiction or even outside her competence. The major implication is that she’s diminishing her office and giving the impression that either she does not understand her brief or she has the tendency to do things impossibly, while what is required of a minister is actually to be very diligent and alert to do the right thing in order not to embarrass her office and the government. Well, at the end of the day, it is the appointing authority that will say they are happy with their performance. Whether she’s competent or not competent, it is the appointing authority that set the criteria for appointing people as ministers and probably in their estimation, they felt that she satisfied those criteria. But so far, her performance has really put a huge question mark on her competence, particularly in understanding her brief and functions as a minister”.
He added that “this will fuel the agitation that ministers should be thoroughly scrutinised before they are nominated for appointment and even if and when they are nominated the National Assembly should also do thorough and critical examination of their antecedents, competence, experience and even comportment to ensure that square pegs are not placed in round holes”.
Threats to sue the United Nation
On the 16th of October, Uju Kennedy had in a press briefing held in Abuja, vowed to sue the Anthonio Guterres led United Nations for allegedly not releasing funds meant for Nigeria. She added that the UN had failed to provide her ministry with the necessary records, which would in turn attract a legal action on or before November 15, if the situation remained the same.
However, her allegations were met with disbelief and criticism from various quarters, including the UN itself, which denied any wrongdoing and challenged her to provide evidence for her claims. Some civil society groups also questioned her motive and authority to make such a demand, and accused her of being ignorant of the UN’s operations and protocols.
As Nigerians waited for an outcome from the threats by the minister, a post on her X handle titled “My Resolve with the UN” published on the 17th of November 2023, suggested that the two parties in question had reached an ‘agreement’ as she wrote, “I would like to appreciate the immediate responses from the @UN donors, their flexibility to adjust to the new government terms.
“It’s no news that we have several foreign donors whom we haven’t seen enough of their impacts on our country and society at large, because of the wrong channeling to policy making and advocacy but it’s time for action. Evidence of the donors is to be seen, you can’t be helping a country without finding out their peculiarity.
“Relaying on the above point, the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the UN have arrived on the same page of less advocacy and policy-making but to use the fund to create sustainable empowerment for our women. The blueprint has been completely written and action to deliver the Renewed Hope agenda is to commence too”.
While questioning the capacity to sue an international organization as UN, Barrister Chinelo Ogbozor said the threats by the minister might be seen as a mere political statement.
Threats to UNICAL female students
Following the University of Calabar sexual harassment allegations, that indicted the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Cyril Ndifon and led to his suspension on the 17th of August 2023, the minister of women affairs had in a leaked video/audio threatened to jail the female law student of the university.
But over 500 women groups had expressed anger over what they called double standards by the minister. They accused her of taking sides with Professor Ndifon, despite her mandate to protect the rights of women in the country.
In an open letter titled; “sexual Harassment- womanifesto condemns threats against UniCal students, Demand Public Apology and Retraction” dated 15 September 2023, the women groups expressed worry over the stance of the minister and its implication on the interest and protection of vulnerable women and children in the country.
They also demanded an open apology and retraction of threats by the minister or risk legal action.
Hours after the letter, the minister tendered an apology with an assurance to stand for Nigerian women and for justice. She said, “it is my hope that we can work together to actualise the dream of a country where women’s rights are respected and protected, and where our daughters feel safe in institutions of learning.”
Advocating child labour
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, had also faced severe backlash for her comments at the Anambra Investment Summit 2023, where she advocated for the use of school children as workers to manufacture essentials such as toothpicks, sanitary pads, cotton buds, and matchboxes.
At the event which took place on 7th September, 2023, the minister had been accused of promoting child labour and violating the rights of children, when she said, “I am pleading for us to look into more production of some of these things in our society. Especially, the necessities like the matchbox, the toothpick, the cotton buds, the sanitary pads and stuff like that. Let us introduce urban development in the schools. If we can think about using Fridays as free, for our children to start producing things just like they do in China. In China, even young kids get involved in production.”
Women and child rights activist, Betty Appiah, condemned the statement by the minister, saying it implies less value on children or the various child’s rights law that Nigeria is signatory to. She added that, “this is not the only time the current Minister for Women Affairs, Barrister Uju Kennedy, would be embroiled in controversy. For someone consistently misfiring on all burners over almost every issue she comments on, it is crystal clear that she doesn’t have the intellectual and administrative capacity to function in such all-important ministry”.
Women’s minister is supposed to be a role model- Maryam Ciroma
A former minister of women affairs Maryam Inna Ciroma during an interview with Weekend Trust, expressed the high expectations on the office of the women affairs minister.
While appealing to the minister to be a role model to Nigerian women, Maryam said that the person occupying the office is “supposed to be a person that women will want to emulate. So my appeal to her is to try as much as possible to be disciplined, to do the right things so that she can be respected by everybody, because she’s now our leader in this country, and as our leader, we don’t want to have a leader that people will ridicule”.
She also advised the minister to focus on her job and do it rightly, “because we don’t want them to see the ministry as unserious”.
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