Onyeka Onwenu is the Director General of the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD). In this brief encounter with select journalists at the Summit on Girl Child held in Abuja, the entertainer-turned politician stated that IDPs should be returned home as quickly as possible. Speaking on the domestication of Child’s Rights Act, she stated that it is vital that we protect our children. RUTH CHOJI was there.
What is the pre-summit on girl child all about?
It is about the girl child, women and it was part of activities to mark the Day of the Girl Child. I think it will be improper for adults to sit and talk about issues of the girl child without finding out what her life is like. We all might have been there before because all women were once girls but with the new issues they are dealing with, we need to know what it is like. You will be surprised at what we will get from the girls themselves.
They speak their minds, they tell you about issues in their schools like not having many female teachers; not having toilet facilities that are decent. It is only a female teacher that you can walk up to and tell her what is happening to you. If, for example, you are being molested, you will be more comfortable talking to a female teacher. Then lack of walls guarding their schools, having a form of security to protect them. If you cast your mind back to what happened in Chibok, the school had no protective walls, they had no electricity on the night they were kidnapped, there was no head mistress and the principal was not around. The students were left to their own devices, unprotected. If we want to coup this violence, we must ensure that our schools have a certain level of protection for the students.
Most of the solutions proffered at the end of such summits are hardly adopted by government and policy makers. What will make this one different?
We want to totally avoid such a situation because it will be tantamount to a waste of time or talking to ourselves. But we are very happy to report that this administration is in support of what we are doing. We will also be launching a magazine called Empowered Women. Some of these issues will receive in-depth attention, the way and manner that it will become a library that you can refer to. A case in point is the programme run by an NGO for school feeding with an exemplary programme in Enugu such that the villagers, parents and families of the student contribute. It is the mothers that take turns to cook this nutritious meal for the children. And from the study that was done, you could see the incredible improvement in their level of studies and health, the programme is using the same opportunity to teach them about hygiene and how to take care of themselves.
It is also teaching the mothers on how to give their families the food that is hygienic. A communique is going to come out at the end of the summit which will be presented to the government through our mother ministry, Women Affairs. Mr President and his wife know about this and all state governments are going to get copies and we will follow through. They are also getting last year’s communiqué as well as this one. This time around, we won’t just talk to the girls but some boys as well. We want to carry them along because at this stage their minds can be positively influenced to think and consider other people as their equals.
You have interacted with the girls in school, how about those on the streets and those out of schools?
We can only reach them through advocacy with state and local governments, communities and opinion leaders who will take this down. We cannot on our own be the policing agents, we can only advocate.
Most states have not domesticated the Child’s Rights act. What is the Centre doing about this?
If we care about the children, then this act must be domesticated by all the states. One of the things we complain about is that we don’t have enough women in the senate; this is their duty to really advocate for this and make sure that government agrees with this act. But it is not happening as quickly as we want it to. It makes sense that we protect our children.
Coming back to the ministerial list, women have come out to criticise the list that women are not many. What is your take on this?
We are saying to Mr President that Nigerian women are looking up to him. He made certain promises to Nigerian women and we know that he loves Nigerian women and will want to see them make their contribution to the growth and development of this country.
Women are available; they are endowed with whatever it takes. Women are making changes in private and public life every day. He has such a list of women to pick form. But if the ministerial list is gone, there are other areas women can contribute to. We have something to bring to the table.
You recently visited some of the IDPs camp; what were some of the things you saw there?
It is not an ideal place, it is a half way place, and better than being out in the open without a roof over your head or being in the bush. But it is not their home. I don’t want us to get too comfortable with the idea of being there. We think there should be a two- prong approach to dealing with their issue, give them immediate relief but prepare them to return to their homes and that should be the ultimate. That should happen as quickly as possible by God’s grace.
It can be demoralising but what we found was hope among the IDPs. They know that this country cares for them, that everybody is talking about them and people are mobilising for them. It was personal for me because I have been there. I was an IDP; I know what it is like to be homeless overnight having so many family members killed overnight. So it stirs up something in me and I said, what can we do to help? If everybody gets involved, we will solve the problems, it is not a big problem.
Aside showbiz, what else are you passionate about?
About life, and I believe that everybody is born with a purpose. Nobody was sent here to come and live in poverty and not fulfill their purpose. I want every Nigerian woman to actualise her dreams no matter what her talent is. You could be a street sweeper and be the talk of town. There is a female traffic warden I see some evenings; I love the way she does her job. I park my car to admire her. What she does is conduct traffic, yet she sees that as her ministry. If you are driving in your car and even if you are in a bad mood, when you see her, you will smile when you see her. Whatever you put your hand to do put your best into it and let somebody learn from it.
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