Oladimeji Ramon
The immediate-past President, International Inner Wheel Club, Mrs. Oluyemisi Alatise, has expressed regret that despite its many benefits, the club has no presence in the northern part of the country because of cultural and religious beliefs.
She blamed what she termed women subjugation in the North on poor education, nothing that the Inner Wheel Club could not have thrived, in a region where the Boko Haram insurgents are waging war against Western education and values.
Alatise, who was the first African to emerge as the president of the 94-year-old 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 at De Santiago Milan Hotel, 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 the programme, Alatise expressed her satisfaction that the Inner Wheel Clubs in Nigeria had covered a lot of grounds, in the attainment of their humanitarian objectives.
She highlighted some of the club’s humanitarian interventions to include the award of scholarships to 65 HIV orphans, some of whom are now graduates; and the school-in-bag initiative, which entailed the provision of basic school kits to schoolchildren all over the country, except in the North.
Asked why the club had 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 the southerners that went to the North on transfers and 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 a problem in the North. The meaning of Boko Haram is Western education is evil. So, now imagine trying to bring 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 on our people here, they don’t understand it that way; so, that is why we don’t have any club in the North.”
Similarly, the National Representative/President, National Governing Body of Inner Wheel Clubs in Nigeria, Dr. Abimbola Sowande, said the club had all the reasons to celebrate, having touched many lives, from women, who were empowered with skills acquisition and sewing machines, to indigent children of school age, being assisted.
She said it was particularly cheering that Nigeria, for the first time, produced the international president of the club, in person of Alatise, in the club’s history, last year.
Sowande, however, hinted that a lack of liberty for women remains a challenge for the club, pleading with men to give their wives the opportunity to contribute their quota to efforts aimed at bettering the society.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: theeditor@punchng.com
source http://punchng.com/why-inner-wheel-doesnt-have-presence-in-north-ex-president/
No comments:
Post a Comment