.. Women across 18 LGAs smile home with empowerment items, goody bags, as 4th Summit ends
.. Honours Outstanding Girls, He4She Personalities, NGOs
“It’s my pleasure and great delight that the construction of FOWOSO Centre is ongoing and it’s a legacy not just for FOWOSO but for all of us, for all the women in Ondo State. Like I said, generations to come when they pass by the FOWOSO centre, they would say, yes! My mother was part of this effort, my grandmother was part of this effort, it’s a thing of joy”.
Above were the words of Her Excellency, the Wife of the Governor of Ondo State and Founder, Foundation for Wives of Ondo State Officials and Female Political Appointees, Chief Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, at the grand finale of 4th Summit of FOWOSO, held at Arcade ground Akure, on Thursday.
Appreciating the individuals who have been supporting the initiative since its establishment, especially the launch of the centre which was performed at the 3rd Summit, Mrs. Akeredolu disclosed that with the generous donations from individuals like Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state and his Rivers counterpart, Governor Wike, the centre would be commissioned for the opening ceremony of 5th Summit.
The Ondo First Lady, noted that FOWOSO was for the good of Ondo women, geared towards promoting their socioeconomic advancement, saying ” FOWOSO has come to stay and all of us should key into this novel initiative that emphasises that women matter”.
She described the 4th Summit as a resounding success as she gave a rundown of discourse at the summit for the benefit of those who didn’t participate on Wednesday.
In her goodwill message, the First Lady of Lagos state Dr. Mrs. Claudiana Sanwolu , congratulated Mrs Akeredolu for the success of the summit and the achievements recorded by FOWOSO in empowering women in the state.
Represented by Mrs. Busola Akosile, the Lagos First Lady further applauded her Ondo counterpart for championing women participation in politics through her slogan ‘Reduce Fila to increase Gele’ which, according to her, had elicited the interest of many women to vie for elective positions and also achieve a number of political appointment for women.
“it’s commendable that since the establishment of FOWOSO in 2018, the Foundation has trained and empowered 3,500 Ondo women in various skills and also supported their businesses with access to credits facility, equipment and capacity development training.
“Without a doubt this summit has overtime provided a suitable stage for enriching and thought provoking discourse on matters of national importance vis a vis undisputable rise of women to actively participate in the political process, Nation building and corporate governance”. She added.
The Chairman of the occasion and Special Adviser to Ondo State Governor on Security matters, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, commended Her Excellency for championing the advancement of the girl child through her BeMore Initiative, saying “I see BeMore initiative as a nursery where the future leaders of FOWOSO is being raised”.
According to him, the Summit was a platform to educate, enlighten and sensitise stakeholders on individuals’ roles toward accelerating the attainment of the idea of equal opportunities for women and girls.
“Another milestone is the efforts being made to improve the health prospects of women through prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The BRECAN initiative has come to reinforce the fact that cancer is not a death sentence”, he said.
The grand finale featured raffle draw which covered the 18 local government areas of the state. Items shared included sewing machines, grinding machines, hair dryers, bags of rice, generators, kitchen items, amongst others. Each of the local government had their women smile home with every single set of the items due to the approach applied for the raffle draw process.
The event also featured exhibition of products made by graduates of the recently organised Ondo State Skills Acquisition and Empowerment programme, an initiative of FOWOSO; elderly women dance competition and couples competition were also part of activities that added fun to the event and participants also got different categories of gift items.
Individuals who have in one way or the other contributed to the cause of womanhood in the state, especially female-related programmes of the First Lady, were honoured with award of He4She during the summit dinner held on Wednesday.
They include, the Governor of Ondo State , Arakurin Ouwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON, for his giant strides in uplifting women, sustainable development and for prioritising security of residents of the state. His deputy, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa , Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim CFR, Chief Olusola Oke, SAN, Prince Jimi Odimayo, Otunba Dele Ologun, Mr. Jide Akinroluyo, Pastor Jide Ipinsagba, Hon. Gbenga Edema, Arch. Oge Odor, Dr. Francis Akanbiemu, got He4She awards for supporting FOWOSO and women programmes.
Others are Mr. Kunle Adebayo of OSRC for supporting women programmes through the media and Mr Seun Betiku for supporting women in sports, and Prince Uzoma Egbulefu for mobilising Igbos brothers’ support for FOWOSO .
In encouraging young outstanding performances, FOWOSO honoured seven girls with Rising Stars award. They included; Miss Ebunoluwa Igbalaye who emerged third in 2022 UTME in Nigeria and overall first position in Ondo state. The six are BeMore Girls who stood out in different classes of skills during their two weeks summer bootcamp. They are Favour Medahunsi and Gbemisola Fasakin both in Art &Craft, Smile Benjamin and Joy Powei in Breast Cancer advocacy, Christianah Madu in Solar technology and Aminat Eze a hearing impaired girl.
FOWOSO also honoured NGOs for community service, they include Hope Orphanage and Emmanuel Children World Foundation. Two members of the foundation, Mrs Lizzy Akpan and Mrs Mosun Odukale, were recognized as Most Supportive FOWOSITE and Most Valuable FOWOSITE , respectively.
Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, who chaired the dinner night as a Chief Launcher, supported the FOWOSO centre with a sum of N10,000,000 , and also supported Miss Igbalaye with N1,000,000 for making the state proud in UTME.
Mary Agidi
Special Assistant to the Governor on Media(Office of the First Lady)
Dec., 9, 2022
JATS Online News 