By Temitope Adedeji
The wife of ondo state governor, Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu has again re emphasized that, the elevation of women in the scheme of things has been her driving force in all her doings.
Mrs Akeredolu made this known on Wednesday at the 4th edition of the Foundation For Wives Of Ondo State Officials FOWOSO at the International Event Centre (DOME) in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
The Ondo state first lady could not hide her joy over the achievements she has been able to pursue so far in elevating women across the state.
According to her
” It is another awe-inspiring moment for me. I should say, in setting out, that I cherish every opportunity that I have to look into the faces of women because I fetch a peculiar inspiration therefrom”
” In so doing, I am either proud of the grounds already covered or reminded of the more that we need to do in our collective strife to elevate the status of women”
The colourful event was said to be more exciting and loving in the anal of things , according to her during her speech at the event
” The Fourth FOWOSO summit presents another of such unique opportunity and I am very much excited to experience it. I congratulate all members of this illustrious foundation and welcome, very warmly, our distinguished guests to another epochal assemblage of Nigerian women”
” This is one gathering that has, through the years, proved itself worthy through performance and not one of those merely emblematic congregations known only for commonplace mundanity”
Meanwhile, the governor of Rivers state, Nyeson Wike, who was the special guest of Honour at the occasion and ably represented by the state Head of Service, Rufus Godwins applauded the first lady for the good job and the length at which she has been able to paddle the canoe of elevation of women in the state.
He urged all women to key into the giant stride of Mrs Akeredolu so as to make the advocacy of having more women in politics in the state a reality.
Also, in her goodwill message Princess Dora Kayode Aroloye who was the Chairman of this year’s edition of FOWOSO summit encouraged women to always support each other at every point in time..
Mrs Aroloye pinpointed that women are the enemies of themselves in terms of politics and urged them to support the drive of Mrs Akeredolu so that more women can be in position of authority in order to reduce men’s domination.
Meanwhile ,Mrs Akeredolu had earlier highlighted the achievements of FOWOSO since it’s creation in 2017 parts of which was the advocating and fight against gender based violence
” You will recall that FOWOSO was founded on this day in December, 2017, as a potent platform for elevating the socioeconomic status of women as opposed to the absurd style of engaging the women in tokenism and hiring them as hailers to launder men’s ego.
” We found the courage of conviction, abinitio, that women deserve better, chose this route against all odds and have since kept faith.
” Five years down the lane, I am proud to announce that we have steadily progressed and there is no looking back. We have put our hands on the plough with amazing results. Our performances are both concrete and measurable; they are no less evident in the number of women whose lives have been transformed through this noble initiative.
” The last one year has in every way been eventful and laudable. The association played strategic roles in growing the status of women in the state. It participated in organising the 2022 Bemore Summer Boot Camp and left alluring imprint. Its members are now zestful advocates against breast and cervical cancer as visibly demonstrated in partnership with the Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN), particularly during the pink October.
” FOWOSO took the world by storm on November 7 as it laid the foundation of a multi-million naira Centre as a stupendous legacy project that would, upon completion, provide shelter for vulnerable women and girls, including victims of Sexual and Gender-Based violence, SGBV, in the state.
” It is one project that is demonstrating to the country and the world at large that women are capable of rare accomplishments.
It is to the credit of this robust organisation that it championed the premier edition of Ondo State Skill Acquisition and Empowerment Programme (OSSA-EP) and, at once, brought forth both sterling results and consummate template for a programme that was supposedly a guinea pig.
” The graduation ceremony of the first set of beneficiaries of this incredible initiative was an emphatic seal of competence on FOWOSO.
Even now, members of this association have been on to the 16 days of activism against sexual and Gender-based Violence while exerting raw energies through rigorous and vociferous campaign. It is interesting to note that this year’s summit falls within the spectacular season of activism, hence we advocate even as we celebrate, and take honest stock of our strides.
No doubt we have recorded significant wins.
” On this lane, we have succeeded in getting the government signed into law the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) bill; we have frontally fought gender violations in the state to the extent that the offense is now dreaded as against offenders being a threat to our women and girls; we have improved the number of women in appointive and elective positions and made history to have gotten the first female Secretary to the State Government
