The late Matriarch of the Ibrahim Babangida family and founder of Better Life Programme for African Rural Women, Dr. (Mrs.) Maryam Babangida has been presented with a posthumous award by the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen.
The posthumous award was received by Hajia Aisha Babangida, the Chairperson of Better Life Programme for African Rural Women, during the events commemorating the year 2022 United Nations International Day of Rural Women.
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The Minister said the award presented in Abuja became necessary because of late Maryam Babangida’s role as a critical stakeholder in the promotion and advancement of rural women’s rights.
Daily Trust reports that late Maryam Babangida was reputed for her novel programme, Better Life For Rural Women.
According to the Minister in a statement made available to our correspondent, rural women are on the frontlines of many challenges of the global agenda including poverty, illiteracy and diseases, maternal and child birth.
She said, “If we protect their interest and cultivate their talents, we can enable them make meaningful contributions to our world. And that’s why we must remember late Maryam Babangida for organising programs that really touched the lives of rural women.
“I remember during the first national trade fair in 1988, she directed that all of us the contact persons in the local government areas must come with 10 typical rural women who have never visited the city. So, how can we forget such a woman. If I am to keep narrating what transpired during the better life program for rural women, we will not leave here today and that’s why I said we must give her a posthumous award today because she lives on. It will be foolish and unrealistic for us to celebrate this day without acknowledging her.
“All of us here today are rural women – we all come from the village. I’m a rural woman. I happen to be a councillor by the grace of our late Mother in 1986. If I am to give my success story, the background and the foundation, it’s our late Mother. I’m one of those she groomed and mentored from councillor, and today I am a Minister. Why should we not remember this great woman?
“Your Excellency, Aisha Babangida, the Chairperson of Better Life For African Rural Women, we appreciate your presence because, when I was reflecting back to all what our great mother did, we cannot celebrate this year’s international rural women without appreciating her efforts. I believe she’s at the corner in this room, watching us, praying for us and smiling.
“These are some of the rural background that I remember through the foundation of the better life program. May the soul of our great mother, Her Excellency, Dr. Maryam Babangida rest in peace. Can we stand up to observe one minute silence in her honour?”
In her speech, Aisha Babangida said her late mother fought to bring solace to the African women and ensured that their voices were heard.
She stated that her organisation had direct impact on the lives of the African women who are not just vulnerable but greatly marginalised.
Babangida who wears her mother’s shoe and making sure that she carries the cross of better life for rural women”.
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