Bukunmi Abraham, a female law student of the Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, emerged as the overall winner of the ‘What Women Can Do’ virtual competition organised by the Akin Fadeyi Foundation.
Oreoluwa Aladejuyigbe, a radio presenter at Petals FM 102.3 Ibadan, emerged the first runner up, while Mariam Dauda Longe, an author and host at Television Continental (TVC), Lagos, clinched the third position.
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The competition, which featured 15 female finalists drawn from various geo-political zones of Nigeria, was in culmination of the International Day of the Girl Child, 2022.
The Executive Director, Akin Fadeyi, explained that the ‘What Women Can Do’ competition by the Foundation was aimed at showcasing the ability of women to proffer solutions to issues of governance as a bolster to the quest for a more gender inclusive governance in Nigeria.
To him, the campaign became imperative following the statistics that women make up “47% of the electorates that put men in office, yet the representation of women in elected offices has been on the decline.
According to him, the Akin Fadeyi Foundation chose to create this platform to raise public consciousness about this imbalance and to introduce new voices in the narrative for a more gender inclusive governance.
He said, “The Akin Fadeyi Foundation, a MacArthur Foundation grantee, is a communication for change centre focused on human rights, sustainable political, socio-economic, and environmental transformation.
“Since 2016 at its inception, good and gender inclusive governance has been one of its core focused areas and this competition is an offshoot of its earlier advocacy and intervention campaigns tagged, ‘Put on Your Thinking Cap’, ‘Gender Inclusive Governance’ media parley and various citizen interactive engagements for good governance led by the Foundation.”
Special Guest at the event and Co-Director, On Nigeria of the MacArthur Foundation, grantors of the Akin Fadeyi Foundation, Kole Shettima, said, “At the MacArthur Foundation, we have always up held diversity, equity, and inclusion as an affirmation of our values. Hence, we have always, therefore, been attentive to gender equality and equity in our engagements, recruitment and other spheres of our work.
“We prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion and have always been enthusiastic to ensure GESI enhances our anti-corruption, accountability, transparency, and participation outcomes. This is why what the Akin Fadeyi Foundation is doing here, stimulating the energy of Nigerian women to envision a corrupt free society as part of a strategic design template for governance.
“Having women lend their voices to what they will do against corruption if they have a shot at power is also very appropriate because corruption is the reason misappropriated funds leave women vulnerable to the deficits occasioned by lack of the infrastructure or amenities that guarantees relative comfort for women more than men.”
Also speaking at the event. Senior Programme Officer, MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Amina Salihu, declared as “excellent serendipity that the Akin Fadeyi Foundation’s “What Women Can Do” final coincided with the 2022 International Day of the Girl”.
Salihu described the finalists as amazons who have brought to the table a spirit of positive competition especially as women have always been doing a lot but struggle with opportunities to demonstrate their importance and opportunities to show their mettle.
At the competition, the 15 female finalists pitched their ideas to judges who are also partners in the cause of sustainable development.
Members of the panel of judges were. Mr. Odeh Friday, Country Director of Accountability Lab; Adeola Fayehun, a journalist and sociopolitical satirist; Mrs. Ramatu Umar-Bako an equality and diversity Champion; and Ms. Yemi Adamolekun, Executive Director of Enough is Enough.
At the end of the debate, six winners emerged, among whom were, Oreoluwa Aladejuyigbe as first runner up, Mariam Dauda Longe as second runner up, Chimdalu Nnenne as the third runner up, while two contestants, Salawudeen Rafat and Oloye Rachael Aina, both clinched the position of the fourth runner up.
The Head of Programmes at the Akin Fadeyi Foundation, Mrs. Oluwatomi Okeowo, promised that the Foundation had taken up the baton to push for good governance and this can only be attainable when there is fairness in the level of gender representation in Nigeria’s governance structure.
She therefore promised that “until this cause is won, the Akin Fadeyi Foundation would continue to champion efforts like this.”
Responding, Bukunmi Abraham of Babcock University, applauded the Akin Fadeyi Foundation for giving her the platform for the amplification of her voice in the cause for gender inclusive governance. Other winners expressed gratitude to the Foundation for enabling the amplification of their hitherto unheard voices.
She promised not to relent until the seemingly impossible task of having more women in governance is achieved.
The Akin Fadeyi Foundation stormed the Nigerian space in a national value-orientation project called Corruption, Not in My Country, a citizen led, one minute parody project that seeks to awaken the consciousness of Nigerians against micro-corruption. The buttomup campaign which featured Nollywood greats in Nigeria like Hafiz Oyetoro, (Saka), tina Mba, Jude Orhorha, Kelechi Udegbe, etc earned applause as a timely intervention against Nigeria’s endemic corruption and eroded value-orientation.
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