 Okay, this is March, a very important month, and a lot of things are being celebrated and awareness being created in this month. We know that we have National Reading Month is for March, Disability Awareness Month, Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month, Kidney Month, among so many other things. But we are focusing today on Women's History Month. That is what we're focusing now. And remember that on Friday, we are going to be celebrating the Women's International Women's Day on Friday, even though in Nigeria, Women's Day is like five or six or seven every time it's Women's Day, even including Men's Day, it's Women's Day partially. Okay, well, today we're talking about investing in women and looking ahead to International Women's Day, which, like I said, is coming up on Friday. And joining us to discuss this, Muta Ngozi, who is Change Leader with Nguvu Collective, and also Itoro Usoro, Change Leader Nguvu Collective. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the program. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Good morning. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. Let's begin with ladies, ladies first, because this is what we're talking about. International Women's Day is coming up on Friday. Let's get a little bit of overview of what is going to be happening or what the significance of this day is. Good morning, Nguvu Collective. Thank you for having me once again on your show. So International Women's Day is a year in advance. Like you said, we are celebrated like billions of times if I may put that word in a year. So that means that the importance of women cannot be very emphasized, especially when it comes to, in every aspect, there's no aspect that women don't play a major role, right? From birthing to work, to home front, to education, to every aspect, there's no way you don't find women right now. So what we're just saying is, okay, let's find a way to make it better, to marginalize it in a quality, not in the sense of feminism, but in the sense of let everybody have a balanced opportunity. So this year's title for International Women's Day in 2024 says, Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress. So investing in women, we're talking of girl child, started from the girl child is like the basis of investing in women up to in every other area, especially when it comes to let me align it to why I'm on the show, lawmaking and making changes. So creating changes in the aspect of making sure that women's voices are heard, women voices are heard and they are being fixed in positions where they can actually make changes. And this is a very important role that women play in the world at large. So we're making changes is better than yesterday and we hope that it gets better with time. Yeah, well, feminism is not a bad thing. It's just that some people are just misunderstanding it or misinterpreting it or acting negatively. Feminism is actually let the woman be seen and heard and let them also participate, let them be given equal opportunities, just like you said. So it's the negative part of it that I don't know where it came from. That was not the initial definition of feminism, you know. But let me go to Itoro right now. What does this mean to you as a person? I'm not asking you because of your organization or anything, but when you talk about celebrating women, what does it mean to you as a man? OK, thank you once again for having me. Celebrating women is what we should do. Do you often just like it has to be happening? And, you know, if you look at the family structure, you see the role that women have to play and you see it's important they're celebrated because most often these women do a whole lot of sacrifices. They get to put so much just to ensure the family is happy, the man is happy and sometimes they do forget to take care of themselves. So celebrating them too is a way of, you know, putting them out there and making them feel good, feel better and, of course, become at the best. OK, thank you very much. And now let me go back to you, Ngozi. You're talking about laws, policies and all those things that will make the lives of women better. Let's get to see what the deficiencies are, especially in the Nigerian society that you can identify and say these are the things that are missing, that if they are put in place, then the life of the woman in Nigeria will be better. Some of these things that need to be addressed. I can't see. I think I lost you. OK. Is it a question for me or for each other? OK, let me ask the question again. You're coming in from the angle of policy, from laws and all those things. And I'm just saying in simple terms, what do you think are some of the things that are missing, whether policy-wise or otherwise, in Nigeria, in the Nigerian society, that you think if they are put in place, the life of the woman in Nigeria will be better? OK, thank you so much. I will still go back to the reason I'm also on the show, which is I'm a changemaker coming on this platform on the from the platform of the Google Collective. The Google Collective is a change platform on Manicheng.org, where we use the platform that is used to make petitions and ensure that changes are made and policies are heard. And people go there to sign this petition. Signing this petition is just saying, OK, I am with you on this one. Let's see what change that we can be made. So I'm here specifically because this year's team says invest in women as in the red program. And I'm coming on the platform on behalf of single mothers, single mothers in the terms of marriage, separated, married, divorced, not married, but have a child, raped, domestic violence, survivors, whatever context they come in as a single mom. So if you are not in Nigeria, a lot of men abandon these responsibilities of child care or child support to the women for whatever reason, right? And this reason cannot even include or is solely excluded from or I don't have money because nobody has money. So even the women that the women that do it, wake up every day and show up for this kid do not have money stashed somewhere. They do it because the responsibility and the responsibility is not something you choose to do. It's something you have to do. So my reason for being here as this year's team, I'm hoping that investing in women in this instance will be able to have an opportunity and a platform. I've pushed this campaign up to meeting. I think yesterday I had a meeting with one of the lawmakers in Lagos State on Revolved Udo Require. He gave us audience yesterday and he promised to pull this petition to see that these situations where women abandon responsibility. There are laws, I mean, I'm not saying there are no laws, but the laws are enforcement of the problem and actually even getting these men to do anything without going to court is also a problem. So he criticised it and I'm hoping that I'll go back and rephrase it and reform it to something more structural. So let me let me the burden of these responsibilities on this on the women would really help them to even be better because I personally I would have to share with a lot of my dream of what I want to do because I am burdened with the responsibility of day to day care of my children. I would not want to give my best to the society. Maybe I want to be a doctor. Maybe I want to be work with United Nations. Maybe I want to be a volunteer somewhere. We all have dreams as women, but as a single mom, it's almost impossible to align your dream. Take care of the body that is supposed to be shared by two partners. Take care of the children mentally, your own mental health, their own mental health and still have the opportunity to build your dream and even give back to the society because we all have our important talent and things we want to do. Well, we want to try, but we cannot because you are surprised with excess and overburdened responsibility. So if you give a law or if the government can even if even if it's not actually creating a law, we're still working on that. But even if the government can create an avenue, what there will be some sort of support for women? You know, but single mothers are stigmatized in energy already. So if there will be like an acceptance and in the meantime, depending when you can even get your spouse to do these things because these are daily needs, then there will be some sort of support where you can go and get support for the children because the children suffer some drop out of school. So don't even have the basic daily needs that you need. And then they are susceptible to men or women out there that are child pedophiles are looking for how to entice the children with things that ordinarily their mom cannot provide on their own. So it's the menace and I'm hoping that this investing in women and in girl child or in children as they would help lessen the burden and help us women that are single moms to be able to try to also contribute to the society. Thank you. OK, yeah, well, well put. Itoro, for you, what does it mean to invest in women? OK, so thank you. I also like to talk about based on my campaign. Um, we are pushing for HPV vaccines for cervical cancer, which is actually a preventable disease to actually be brought to the barest minimum in our nation. We've seen that this is the second most common cancer in women. And so many women are ignorant of this from my work in the past few years. We've seen that women are forward of life. You know, you can see some people in some offices thinking they know about this, but you will show when you're meeting with them and some are not heard about this and some are false. I've heard about it, but do not take that important. So for me, I think investing in women is prioritizing health care because without their health, they cannot do anything. And the first step to do this is through, you know, awareness creation, especially when it has to do with silent killer disease like cervical cancer, which is actually, you know, ravaging our society today. So if government gets to invest, you know, in the awareness, gets to invest in the infrastructure when it comes to health and ensuring that the vaccine, thank God, in October 2023, the HPV vaccine was actually rolled out in Nigeria, the pilot has in 16 states and in May 2024, the winning states too will also be doing the same. But then it shouldn't just stop there because just rolling out the vaccine and getting the few persons. I think 7.7 million girls is the target in Nigeria. It shouldn't just stop there, but they should go past that to creating platforms where women can also get screened. There is a follow-up mechanism to ensure that people who are positive, you know, get treatment because cervical cancer, like I said, is preventable. It's a preventable cancer, but then we are having countless women die from this. So I feel, for me, governments with prioritized health, they should ensure that women do not need to die, you know, from such, you know, infections from such diseases that can actually be preventable. Why die from something that you can prevent? So if governments do well, investing in money, investing in resources and ensuring that these women have access, you know, to these facilities and at some point where they need to pay, it's affordable, then I think this will go a long way, you know, to help accelerate the progress we're looking at because at the end of the day, you see that women are pivotal, not just in their families, you check up communities and eventually at the world at large. So for me, this will be a good way to invest in women. Let me remain with you. Before that vaccine was rolled out, you were at the fore of creating this awareness and it has been rolled out and all that. I'd like to know the experience so far in that exercise. What has been the challenge or what have been the challenges while you're trying to get the people to know about it, to receive this vaccine and whatever it is from the perspective of the people and from the government. I know you've mentioned some of the things that need to be put in place, but for purpose of emphasis, let's get to know your experience on the field that made you mention what you have mentioned, for instance. OK, thank you. Misconception has really been a major challenge. You get to see people talk about the whole of the stuff. You get to some areas, their culture, some leaders in the areas. They are saying all manner about the vaccine. People, you get to hear people say, if you take the vaccine, you will not be fatal. You cannot go to there. Some say you're going to die and a whole lot of stuff. So that has really been a major concern. In short, our last experience, the one that really shocked me was when we got to a university and I was expecting to have this rapport with them. And of course, I was not expecting to see them refrain themselves from what we're talking about. We're talking to the science faculty, like I can say we made over 500 students and less than 10, five percent of that number knew about that. And they were even pushing it away, meaning that in that particular area, the misconception is so high. So I think a government should do more by creating awareness. Let people know this. All like a COVID-19 vaccine that is recent, like in 2019 and 2020, the vaccine came out as a five HPV vaccine has been there. So it's not it's not something new that we are just trying to train out just that the federal government of Nigeria rolled out the vaccine last year. But it's been there for years. Other countries have been using it and it's working. So federal government put measures to ensure that some of these misconceptions actually dealt with because it's really taking a hold on the target or population. You go to schools like the mobilization strategy of federal government is going to secondary school since the age range is nine to 14. So imagine going to secondary school and a parent has already talked to the children. You don't have to get this. You don't have to receive this. So going there, you are already, you are meeting the rocks because the children will actually not accept that. So I think federal government should do more in terms of awareness, creation should do more in terms of reaching out to communities, BTS talking more with the parents and ensuring that they understand what is happening and also to let them know that it's safe because you go out there, people are saying, no, they can't take that. They don't want to die. They don't want to be barren and stuff like that. So this has really been the major challenge, the misconceptions and the myths surrounding the vaccine. But so far I would also want to commend the federal government for the great job they are doing because I think it's a great first step and we trust that they are able to pull through at the end of the day. OK, Ngozi, it's your time now. You said you are zeroing in on single motherhood, gender-based violence and so many other things that are related to that, maybe that even make women become single mothers. You had a rapport with a lawmaker. We'd like to have a peek into what that discussion was. And the challenge is that from the part of government that you were told we're militating against implementation of these laws because you said there are laws that should take care of that. But the implementation is a problem. So what are some of these problems? Because when you're talking to the lawmakers, we are the people. We need to be talking also to them. We have to have insight into what their challenges are and what the challenges of the women who are the victims are as well. OK, so thank you very much. So apart from the lawmaker that we had a meeting with, I also have reached out to the Commissioner for Women Poverty Elevation on every single other. So I was at our office last week as well. So I dropped a letter which has been approved. So I'm waiting to get a meeting with her. So I've been communicated that the meeting did to be given to me very soon. I had to go through her as well because she's a commissioner for women at first. So I'm hoping that she coming on the platform and pushing this as well to the lawmakers directly. It will also be long as she has approved that the the office has confirmed that to me when they reached out to me. So the meeting we also had with the Open Air Bureau of Referee and other lawmakers was quite very, very intense because he has sat down as a lawmaker. He looked at it from all the angles. So one of the issues that was pointed out to me, which I also knew was that because in my petition and my campaign, I'm asking that these monies be deducted from source, right? These men work, like some have a knife job. Even the women know where these men work. I mean, their HR is there. But even when you go to court, it is as if you, as a woman, the only proof that the man can provide is on you. You have to say, this is where he works. They will not be asking, oh, does he end much? How much is he earning? How much is the woman earning? She didn't keep money somewhere, but she shows up. She does these things. So there's nothing. So it's very uncomfortable and unfair on the woman that she has to prove that someone somewhere is buoyant enough to take his recession. This is not an option. It's not a choice. It's something you have to do, whether you like it or not. So I was asking that these monies be deducted from source. I mean, we have to give you and we have NIM. It can be deducted. Why do we have those things if it can be linked to the person? But he started and I said, OK, we're not in U.S. We're not in United Kingdom, where you have your social security number. Once you put it in, all the jobs you had from where you left from all your life history, just shows up on the system. He said that we're not there yet, right? The man says he has resigned from his job. You may not be just stand up and say, oh, they declare bankruptcy simply because they want to evade responsibility. They say they don't have anything. So we won't go as far as once the matter is in court, they go to sell off all the properties that the woman knows about and take the money somewhere. They have a bank account that they all put together and she knows he closes it and move money somewhere else. So he found out that the woman needs to be treading and trailing the man to know how she can prove that he can actually provide. It's not supposed to be that way. You're a father and a mother. Both of us brought the children into the world. The woman is not even saying, do it or he's saying, take your share of the responsibility. So these are the problems that he pointed out that how do you trace and be able to deduct from source? Because you may not be able to quickly do all this and because there are really no record purposes. I mean, this is twenty twenty four, even in the court, to me as a lawyer, he's still a struggle, bringing tech into the legal system. Some some judges may not be comfortable with some kind of evidence that you bring in like now they are affecting, but it's a very slow process. So these are the challenges. So we are looking at it. So we are looking at the particularity. Right. So the particularity, those are the things. So he says, OK, I have to look at the. And also, I brought out the issue of the violence against persons which is only in F-60. We don't have that in legal state. And legal state is very, very happy to be part of the people that bring that into legal because in that very act, which is only in F-60, you have all these things spelt out. If you do not take care of your child, you are going to jail for three years. If you do not do this, you are paying a one million error fine. Those things are spelt out, men that beat their wives, men that stop their wives from working, men that seclude their wives from their family members, all those things are clearly seen. And he's like, OK, I don't mind trying to see if we can bring that one if it will help amongst other things. So he's still in work in progress. I think we'll have the meeting again. And I'm hoping that we'll get victory from there. So those are the few things and they also made suggestions on other things that can bring on board. OK, well, let me stay with you while we're at it. What would you say to the women themselves? Because it's not always the best to just talk about one side. What would you tell the women on this International Women's Day? Because some of these women actually have baby fathers, as we call them now. Some of them have husbands that they have divorced and all that. And they refuse even partial custody for these men over their children. And then they are asking for support and all that. It's rare in cases where you have shared custody, maybe three times in a week or during holidays or the man takes responsibility, the woman takes responsibility and all that. And you still find a father who does not do anything. So some fathers complain that the women exclusively have rights to these children and they don't give them the rights to their children. And they still ask for support and it's a problem to them. So what would you say to the women? While you're expecting the man to share the responsibility, what about also custody of the children? So, you see this topic you raised now, it's very, we start talking about it, we're going to take the whole day, but I'm going to summarize it. So first of all, let me start with the issue of custody. So it depends on the age of the child, right? Normally, as a natural process, a mother has custody. Has the custody of a child of a particular age. There's no way you can take a child that's less than five years or seven years and go and give it to a man, right? Because it's assumed that the woman and the mother will not have a child better. So that is ruled out. In some circumstances, that same way, custody is actually given to the man because the court feels the man might do better. So women actually abandon their children for the man and when they go to court, there's no way the court will take that child from the man that's taking care of this child back to the mother, it will not be done because the child's welfare will always be considered. Coming to the issue of shared custody. So a lot of men walk out from their marriages or because they have issues from there, I'm not generalizing, but I'm speaking from a higher percentage, right? So a lot of men just walk away from their marriages and oh, I'm upset with this woman. Oh, for whatever reason, the only way I could hurt this woman is, let her let me see how she's going to treat by herself or have been providing. So men actually were providing in the marriage, but when the marriage is over, they turn around and abandon the model. And then you see that, oh, these children are already with the mom. And the man throws in some three years, five years later and says, oh, I don't have access to my child. Maybe by then they're in court. So tell me how they're going to now, it's almost impossible for you to now come and have access. But you can have shared custody if you will now sit back and take your responsibilities, right? So it's not like it's a case of if you don't take your responsibilities, you will not have access. But even when some women offer access, even myself, I'm speaking from experience, offer access to the man, it will still not be taken. Still because I don't know, I think it's the society enabling the men that no matter how long you go, these children will always come looking for you. But I mean, the children are not the children, this is the 21st century. So I think that mindset of, oh, they will come and look for me, needs to change, it's a best time in your child. And then the women as well, that their fathers of their children or husbands or partners are doing their beats. I don't think there's any woman, I don't know, maybe, but if you're a woman and you're listening to me and you're denying the father of your child assets for whatever reason, it is wrong because both parents are needed in the child's life. If the both parents are willing to be in the child's life, that willingness is number one. Are you willing? If you're willing without subjecting the child or using as an opportunity to torture one part, maybe the child being tortured, maybe the mother is being manipulated just because of, I don't know, let's leave our issues aside and focus on the children. And I think to a very large extent, a reasonable woman would be willing to do that. If the man would be willing also to put his deal aside and do what he's supposed to do. That's my own opinion. Yeah, it's a very salient one because whatever issues the parents have. It depends on the parties really. It's not a straightforward explanation. Yeah, whatever the issues are between the parents, the children must not suffer. Do not. Yes, okay, that's a very good one. Itor, let me come to you. What are you looking forward to? You know, a future for the Nigerian woman. Even beyond just talking about their health, what kind of future do you hope to see the Nigerian woman have? Okay, I'm hoping to see a Nigerian woman happy. Hoping to see her living at her base. Hoping to see her educated. Hoping to see her well cared for and informed. Not misinformed, not marginalized and given opportunity, put in jobs and political leadership and every other aspect where they are comfortable, their voices are heard. And I mean, because by the time you look down and see the imputes that women make in a society, personally I've done a couple of things. I've been in the business world. I've seen that most of them are drivers of most of the small and medium scale enterprises and you see their dedication, you see their passion, their consistency. So at the end of the day, if women are invested in, you see it's a step forward, not just for them, but for the communities and the nation at last. So I'm looking forward to seeing women happy, seeing them living at their base, seeing them excited about life and of course, giving their best. Okay, just a final word from you Ngazi, to everybody. Okay, so to everyone, first of all, to all my beautiful sisters out there, I'm wishing you happy international women's day. Keep shining, keep doing what you do. Keep maximizing opportunities, keep making yourself your best version of yourself. For single mothers out there, you're doing very well. It's not easy, the state is not making it easy. The stigma is overwhelming. You're being, if you had lost your spouse or the person died, people come to mourn, we still sympathize, probably as a self-responsibility for one or two child, children, but as a single mother, you're being judged, you're being avoided, you're being there, the whole lot a single mother deals with, right? So just keep finding a balance, trying to find somewhere in between to still achieve that dream that you would have ordinary have achieved because no woman sets out to go into a marriage to walk out of it, but it happens, life happens. Yeah, we cry, we regret, but let's start not bring us down. Try your best to find a balance, try your best to keep thriving, let this celebration, if nobody celebrates you on the traditional women's day, celebrate yourself, you're doing amazing, you're doing amazing. Look back where you're coming from and you see that yesterday was better than, today is better than yesterday and tomorrow would definitely be better than today. So let's be happy and everything that we wish to achieve, let's try no matter how difficult it is, let's get that dream. There's this fulfilling feeling that I get when something I've been struggling to do gets done no matter how long it takes. If it turns, keep pushing and it only gets better. Okay, thank you. Even the proudest of us, the most stubborn of us know that the women rule the world. We are just proud, we were born proud. We do things like proud people. We know that the women rule the world. So we'll just take this opportunity to say happy International Women's Day, or should I say days because they are many. Days, yes. But we wish you well and we hope that things will turn out better for the women folk and for everybody. Thank you for coming on the program today. Thank you for having us. Okay, Ito Oro as well. Thank you for being a wonderful contributor to this program this morning. Thank you for having us. Okay. All right, we've been talking to Muta Ngozi, change leader with Nguvoo Collective and also Ito Oro Osoro, change leader as well with Nguvoo Collective. We've been talking about investing in women and looking ahead to the International Women's Day. It's on Friday and we're using this time to in advance say happy Women's Day to all the women and mothers especially. My name is Nyam Ghul Agadir. This is where we wrap it up this morning. Let's do it again tomorrow. Bye for now.