“The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation. You are not important because of how long you live; you are important because of how effective you live,” Dr. Myles Munroe (of blessed memory) said.
This connotes that one of the greatest uses to which life can be put is to touch lives of other people and add value. Women play an important role in families, and wear many caps. Empowering them economically goes a long way in helping them provide support to their families.
According to an article by the World Economic Forum, titled, ‘Four ways to empower women in the world’s poorest countries’, women can be empowered through making trade safe for them, bringing more of them into the workforce, making spaces for female expertise as well as facilitating equal access to technology. Nevertheless, one of the major barriers that prevent women from being empowered is child marriage, arising especially from teenage pregnancy.
A report by the United Nations Children’s Education Fund(UNICEF) shows that before their 18th birthday, 43 percent of Nigerian women between ages 20 and 24 got married. Furthermore, 17 percent of them were already married by their 15th birthday. Such early marriage arising from teenage pregnancy, led to a stop in the education of such girls. 80 percent of those married before 18 gave up education as did 39% of those married before 15. The menace is one plaguing both Northern and Southern Nigeria. Jigawa State has the highest rate with 90 percent of girls less than 18 getting married.
In Southern Nigeria, it stands at 29 percent in Ogun, 23 percent in Oyo and Delta, and 22 percent in Akwa Ibom. Many of these early marriages arising from teenage pregnancy need to be advocated against and stopped.
Educating the girl child helps to directly reduce the incidence of such teenage pregnancy and early marriage. According to a World Bank article “Girls’ education goes beyond getting girls into school. It is also about ensuring that girls learn and feel safe while in school; have the opportunity to complete all levels of education, acquiring the knowledge and skills to compete in the labor market; gain socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world; make decisions about their own lives; and contribute to their communities and the world. Both individuals and countries benefit from girls’ education.
Better educated women tend to be more informed about nutrition and healthcare, have fewer children, marry at a later age, and their children are usually healthier, should they choose to become mothers. They are more likely to participate in the formal labor market and earn higher incomes.” This underscores the importance of educating the girl child.
Closely tied to the success of educating the girl child is the need to promote moral values and economic excellence, and instill such values in the girl. Moral values such as chastity need to be promoted among the female folk. Furthermore, supporting the government of the day in its plans towards developing the state is of utmost importance.
All of the above stated points are an encapsulation of the 5-point agenda of Family Empowerment and Youth Re-orientation Programme (FEYReP), a non-governmental organization founded by Mrs. Martha Udom, the first lady of Akwa Ibom State. Re-iterating the agenda of the organization, it includes empowering women to provide economic and emotional support to their families; advocacy for the prevention of teenage pregnancies; education for the girl child; promotion of moral values and economic excellence, as well as providing support to government efforts towards sustainable development.
Even though the organization was founded on 28th September, 2015, the desire of Mrs. Udom to impact lives through adding value to them can be traced back to her childhood. She grew up in a family that had love for those around them. She recollects with joy how her parents trained many people who are successful today. In her words, “These attributes and good nature of my forebears were passed down to us as children-we all have a soft spot for the less privileged. I am always moved to help people, especially the less privileged”. It is therefore not surprising to see how much Mrs. Udom has touched the lives of many. This article takes a look at some of the life impacting projects undertaken by the organization.
Firstly, in line with economic empowerment of women, the organization has disbursed start-up grants of N100,000 and equipment to about 5,500 beneficiaries mostly women and youths to empower them to set up small businesses for themselves. Still in line with women empowerment, during the celebration of the 35th Anniversary of the state in 2022, over 400 women benefited from small and medium business starter packs needed for their businesses.
Drawn from the 31 local governments in the state, the beneficiaries were trained on hair dressing, tailoring, barbing and cobbling. They were thereafter given sewing machines, hair dryers, cobbling machines, cash and other items needed to start business. Speaking on the goal of the project which was to empower women financially so they can support their families, Mrs. Udom reiterated that”No woman should remain a housewife, so that you can support your husbands.”
Secondly, in terms of preventing teenage pregnancy and educating the girl child, the organization has done the following. The “Girls Uphold Your Dignity” Campaign is aimed at educating students on HIV and AIDS, VVF, teenage pregnancy, rape and the rights of the girl child to education, and the project has been greatly successful. Speaking on the great strides made so far, Mrs. Udom said, “We are proud of the Girls Uphold Your Dignity programme, which keeps a cycle of sensitisation going for teenage girls in secondary schools on the benefits of abstinence from premarital sex, enlightening them on HIV/AIDS, VVF, teenage pregnancies, rape and the rights of the girl child to education.
“This is complemented by the Martha Cares for Young Women programme, which awakens young female adults’ awareness and resolve to decline unsolicited sexual advances from men. By providing counseling, scholarships and economic empowerment to inspire and support indigent young women, FEYReP has … become a bastion of gender empowerment. With these two programmes, we have found a way to cut down on early pregnancy, which in the past was a big problem in this state.”
Boys have not been left out in the impact driven projects of FEYREP. Through the “Bright Future for Responsible Boys” Campaign, boys have been educated on sexual orientation, financial independence, among others.
In terms of providing support to government efforts towards sustainable development, FEYREP has through its ’Food For All initiative’, helped in providing food for the Akwa Ibom populace at a reduced price. On a 17-hectare model farm cassava farm and a cassava processing factory at Ikot Aba, Ibiono Ibom LGA, Garri was produced on a large scale, and the positive outcome was that with N200, only two cups of garri could be bought back in 2015, but when the crops were harvested from the farm, under this FEYREP Project, there was so much harvest, to the extent that the same N200 then could purchase 12 cups of garri.
Jones, a social commentator, writes from Lagos
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