Northern men caging their wives –Alatise

Oladimeji Ramon

The immediate past President, International Inner Wheel Club, Mrs. Oluyemisi Alatise, has expressed regrets that despite its many benefits, the club has no presence in the northern part of the country because ‘women in the North are still being subjugated by their husbands.’

She blamed what she termed “women subjugation” in the North on poor education, noting that Inner Wheel Club could not have thrived in the North, a region where the Boko Haram insurgents wage a war against Western education and values.

Alatise, who was the first African to emerge the President of the 94-year-old International Inner Wheel Club, said this in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday on the sidelines of the club’s 31st Annual National Conference/Rally.

The four-day event, which doubled as the club’s 50th anniversary, was with the theme, “Leaving a lasting legacy.”

It held in Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos, with the club playing host to the wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, on Friday night.

Speaking with our correspondent shortly after the business segment  on Saturday morning, Alatise expressed satisfaction that Inner Wheel Club in Nigeria had covered a lot of grounds in the attainment of its humanitarian objectives.

She highlighted some of the club’s humanitarian interventions to include awards of scholarships to 65 youngsters orphaned by HIV/AIDS, some of whom are now graduates; and the school-in-bag initiative, which entailed provision of basic school kits to schoolchildren all over the country, except in the North.

Asked why the club has no presence in the North, Alatise explained, “We are not in the North for obvious reasons. But we are in the South and we are about 98 clubs spread within Lagos, Ogun, up to Anambra. Our limit is Abuja.

“We used to have about three or four districts in the North, but the people that formed the club were southerners that went to the North on transfer and that’s because of their own orientation and education; they understood what this is about.

“So, they were the ones who formed districts in the North and as soon as they retired, they came back to the South, and everything died off.

“The northern women are not as outward-looking as the southern women; their men will not even allow them to come out, let alone have a voice of their own.

“We still have women subjugation a lot in the North; no matter how educated they are, they are still very much under the influence and control of their husbands.

“In the South, we have the same thing, but we are more educated. We are more outward-looking, we are more cosmopolitan. So, there’s problem in the North.

“The meaning of Boko Haram is against Western education. So, now imagine trying to bring a Western culture because Inner Wheel was formed in Britain before it came here.

“Even though what we are doing is relevant; the money we make here, we don’t take it to Britain, we spend it for our people here, but they don’t understand it that way; so, that is why we don’t have any club in the North.”

source http://punchng.com/northern-men-caging-their-wives-alatise/