For the First Lady of Akwa Ibom State, Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel, there could be no better way of recognising her contributions to the well-being and development of the state than the award by the United Nations. The report is by EMA JIMMY.
In less than three years, families in Akwa Ibom State especially, women and the Girl-child have had a massive turnaround in their lives. And in a long time to come, the people will not forget the positive impact the wife of the state Governor, Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel, has made in their lives through her pet project, Family Empowerment and Youths Reorientation Path-Initiative (FEYRep).
Ordinarily, FEYRep would have been counted as just one of the pet projects initiated by one of the First Ladies in Nigeria. But the award given to the Akwa Ibom State First Lady by the United Nations (UN) for empowering and uplifting the women and the girl-child in the state is an eloquent testimony of the impact her project has made on the lives of the people.
For the First Lady, there could be no better way of recognising her contributions to the well-being and development of the state than the award, which was presented to her at the UN Headquarters in New York, United States, by the International Human Rights Commission.
While receiving the award at the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the UN Headquarters where she also held a side-event to showcase her project, the Akwa Ibom State First Lady felt a deep sense of fulfilment. It was an event, which opened on March 12 and ended March 23.
Ambassador Fouday Mansaray, High Representative of the Commission at the UN and African Union, while commending the activities of FEYRep, affirmed that it is in line with Resolution 1325 as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which gives women a voice and platform to speak and to participate fully in governance.
“What we do is that we try to embody the whole Sustainable Development Goals, not only talk about one issue but look at it from a holistic approach. We take education as a vehicle to all of this and our goal is to make sure that we see women in high position in governance, because women bring the entire family into consideration in leadership,” Mansaray said.
According to the envoy, the Commission works with about 17 states in Nigeria, carrying out thorough investigation on the impact of similar pet projects. Of particular interest is the fact that only two of these awards are given out in a year. Before the award went to the Akwa Ibom State First Lady, the Commission carried out on-the-spot assessment of her projects and those of other governors’ wives in Nigeria.
Mansaray confirmed that the Commission was with 15 governors’ wives at a programme in September 2017.
“We are mostly impressed with her down-to-earth, in-depth approach for widows.”
For this reason, the Commission has pledged to work with Akwa Ibom State for going the extra mile to implement programmes and avenues that would empower women and girls.
From all indications, FEYRep is a social intervention like no other. The contents of the project indicate clearly that the First Lady connects directly with the people, understands their problems and needs, and provides long-term and sustainable solutions to them. In the first two years of the project, no fewer than 2,000 women in rural communities in the state were empowered. The number has since moved up to an impressive figure.
The project is made up of economic empowerment, medical outreaches, provision of shelter for the homeless, agricultural interventions and attitudinal reorientation for the youths. According to Mrs. Emmanuel, FEYRep is founded on the core objectives of empowering families and restoring values in youths. The First Lady has also immensely used the Non-Governmental Organisation to complement the efforts of her husband, the governor towards making Akwa Ibom family rise to greatness.
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Although the youths, widows and physically challenged persons are all benefitting from the pet project, one major beneficiary of the life-changing initiative of Mrs. Emmanuel is the Girl-child. And this is one aspect of the project that gladdens her heart.
With a massive campaign, aimed at upholding the dignity of women and the girl-child, she has succeeded in creating awareness such that when a girl is raped in the state, the victim now has the guts to call FEYRep and report the case. The mothers also call to report that their daughters have been sexually abused. That is a sign of changing times. Through FEYRep, many convictions have also been secured against rapists in the state. That was not the case in the past.
“Before now, girls were not talking about rape cases. Many of them were raped and their mothers would not allow them to talk about it because of stigmatisation or intimidation. But we have sensitised women, talking about it, telling them to voice out. We go to schools, emphasising our theme, ‘Girl, uphold your dignity,'” said the First Lady with a deep sense of fulfilment.
That is not just all. For so many widows and widowers, houses have been built, several youths have been empowered, and indigent students have had their school fees paid. In the health sector, many people have benefitted from the initiative as quite a number of people have been assisted to travel to India for surgeries that could not be handled in Nigeria. Indigent people with severe vision challenges have also benefited from surgeries through timely interventions of FEYRep. Even the physically challenged persons are not left out. Several of them have been assisted to acquire skills. Those who are in need of start-up capital have also been assisted to start off their own businesses.
It is interesting to note that since inception, the First Lady has been working around the clock to achieve all that FEYRep set out to do. The five cardinal objectives of the project are to create a platform for showcasing successful families; empower women to provide economic and emotional support to their families, end stigmatization and violence against women; advocate for the prevention of teenage pregnancy, rape and education for the girl-child, create opportunity that engenders moral values and economic excellence; and support government efforts towards sustainable development goals.
With this all-encompassing intervention project, what more can a First Lady do to uplift her people? And with such an enduring project that touches the lives of the people, nothing less than an award from the United Nations can be more rewarding. Thumbs up, Deaconess Martha Udom Emmanuel! Thumbs up Akwa Ibom State!
