• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Success Adegor: Woman of the year!

Success Adegor

Undeterred by poverty, a little unknown girl born in adversity 7 years ago has redefined and personified the meaning of determination, commitment, sense of responsibility and resilience. With her interesting life trajectories, I am beginning to believe that there is something in a name. Her name is Success and she is determined to succeed! And not only that she wants to succeed, she wants to succeed in a very forthright way. Listening to her story, Success comes across as an island of moral fortitude in an ocean of moral turpitude. Sent home for failure to pay N900.00 examination fee, Success was furious at the callousness of Okotie Eboh Primary School, Sapele, Delta state to send her home even when she preferred being flogged. Moreover, Success was very willing to pay the fees but only requested for time to enable her parents or possibly herself raise the demanded fee. To Success, which I fully agree to and support, she was badly treated by the school and as the school is ‘stubborn’, the best way to handle them was to show that she is more tenacious. This she abundantly demonstrated!

After clearly and convincingly stating her case in the short video, she took very bold and unyielding steps voicing her determination to fight on for her right to be educated. Based on the way Success handled the situation, she is really my woman of the year! Of course I did not call her my girl of the year because she did not behave like one nor like a child. She behaved like a full grown up woman and a very independent one with little or no reliance on parents, husband or society. The fight is hers and she is gallantly fighting it as such! I salute her courage and determination to survive! In her actions, I see a fight against everything wrong with our dear country and nation. She is fighting against poverty in plenty, failure of good governance and accountability, absence of empathy and fiduciary duty of care. Success is fighting for survival in a very challenging environment and it is a good fight that should be supported by all men and women of good will. She is fighting for freedom and development not for herself but for all and sundry who are not privileged to belong to the less than 1% fortunate ones.

In his most interesting 1999 book, Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen lucidly demonstrates that the provision of the basic necessities and opportunities which he describes as freedom is the fulcrum for the sustainable development of every society. As I grieve in Success’ adversity, Amartya Sen’s gospel that the provision of opportunities such as education and health care significantly contributes to the achievement of individual capabilities and when aggregated manifests as societal development became more apparent. Most remarkable in Sen’s counsel is his unquestionable and most convincing role of women in sustainable development. He cautions that while enhancing the well-being of women is important, what is even more imperative and impactful is the advancement and support of their societal roles. For instance, he most compellingly demonstrates that improving women’s literacy levels and employment opportunities expectedly results to improved fertility and lower child mortality.

Success Adegor is a 7 year old child from a major oil producing state, Delta, fighting for the opportunity to study in a school without proper roofing and preferring to be flogged than being sent home. While she might not have read Sen’s book, she is an epitome of the contents of the book. As the causes and solution to most of our social problems have been thankfully further exposed by both Success and Sen’s book, I think that the good fight which Success has started should not be treated with levity or allowed to die. Moreover, as Success’ situation is a classic case of serendipity or divine revelation with many more girls like her who might not be as successful and blessed as Success, I think that it is a good fight that must be fought to a logical and impactful end. On the part of Delta state government, it is a failure of leadership, governance, accountability and responsibility. While suspending the head teacher Mrs Vero Igbigwe for collecting illegal fees is proper, it is grossly inadequate and deceptive. Even if the school was collecting illegal fees, is the head teacher also responsible for the disgraceful state of the school? With the state of infrastructure in the school which is similar to many other public schools in Delta in addition to the alleged collection of illegal fees, the Commissioner for Education should be suspended and possibly sacked with a good apology offered to Deltans and Nigerians by the Governor. If we want to move forward as a country, I think it is time for effective actions for inexcusable dereliction of duty.

Another major stake holder that should treat this case with more seriousness that it deserves are the various women organizations around the country especially Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ). As a foremost platform for the advancement of women freedom and opportunities, I think that Success should be invited to major events such as International Women Day celebrations. For her determination to survive, she should be promoted as a role model of resilience and commitment for girls and women. With advocacy for more women in leadership positions in both private and public sectors, a clear leader such as Success should be celebrated and supported to succeed. As she succeeds so will Nigeria succeed in reducing infant mortality, dependency challenges and above all better and more caring wives, mothers and society!

 

Franklin Ngwu

 

Dr. Ngwu is a Senior Lecturer in Strategy, Finance and Risk Management, Lagos Business School and a Member, Expert Network, World Economic Forum.