A member of the House of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeoye Aribasoye, has described the “Women Leader Award of the Year” conferred on the Ekiti State First Lady, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, as honour well deserved.
Aribasoye, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress representing Ikole Constituency 2, said Mrs Fayemi had contributed immensely to the growth, development and political emancipation of women globally, saying she deserves any honour that has nexus with women or gender equality-driven.
The First Lady and Chairperson of the Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum, was last week named the “Women Leader of the Year” at the inaugural International Women’s Day Awards Gala jointly hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, European Union, British High Commission, and the Embassies of the United States of America, Germany and France, to commemorate International Women’s Month.
Congratulating the first lady on the scintillating feat, Aribasoye said the award would further spur the first lady to contribute more to the upliftment of women in Ekiti, Nigeria and globally.
Recounting Mrs Fayemi’s exploits in promoting female gender across Africa, Aribasoye said the African Women Development Fund(AWDF), which she co-founded with other respectable gender promoters and feminists, had given solace to over 800,000 women across 42 countries in Africa, making it a leading women empowerment body in the continent.
At home, Aribasoye stated that Ekiti people won’t forget the women empowerment being championed by Mrs Fayemi through serious advocacy for more women representations at various levels of governments, party levels and in area of economic empowerments to combat poverty in their ranks.
“The AWDF co-founded by Mrs Fayemi has become one instrument being used to promote women and their virtues in African continent. Many gender activists had risen to the top with many empowered to know their rights and rescued them from vicious poverty afflicting them.
“At home in Ekiti, thousands of women had benefited from Mrs Fayemi multifarious and multi-approached empowerment programmes in the facets of money for traders, food banks and village kitchens for the elderly.
“Ekiti people can’t forget how Mrs Fayemi fought hard to ensure that more women are involved in politics.
“Before Governor Kayode Fayemi came in 2010, women had been relegated in Ekiti politics, but with Mrs Fayemi taking up the battle, at least women are now recognised by being given slots as assembly members, commissioners, special advisers, Senior Special Assistants and even National Assembly members.
“Through her efforts and that of the leadership of APC in Ekiti, the party had thrown up a woman as the party’s Deputy Governorship candidate, Mrs Monisade Afuye, for the June 18 governorship poll in our dear state.
“These were aside different intervention programmes being midwifed by Mrs Fayemi like fight against female genital mutilation, building of referral home for rape victims, food and money distribution to widows and seminars for women so that they can know their rights,” the lawmaker said
On the female-oriented laws championed by the First Lady, Aribasoye said, “Mrs Fayemi also ensured the sponsorship of various laws to protect the female gender like Gender Based Violence Prohibition Law, Child’s Rights Law and Equal Opportunities law that had bolstered women’s chances of survival in the state and bulwark against molestations and slavery.
“So, considering all these lofty achievements, one could decipher that the latest award and others preceding it were honours well deserved for our own Mother-General, Erelu Bisi Fayemi.
“On behalf of myself and family, I congratulate our quintessential mother and leader, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, for this honour and I pray that God shall continue to give her the enablement to contribute more to serving humanity”.