 You're welcome back today or at this time we're going to talk about Something a little bit different from what you've been hearing all the time It's about health and the health is a specific kind of health issue that we're going to be addressing About a specific kind of gender a specific gender. Let me just tell you What was obtainable in the days of yore? We know that there are so many men who married second wives and guess why because they know that at some point in The month their wives their first wife's where we're going to be menstruating and Because of that some men stopped eating their wife's food when they're under that period Some men married other wives that will not be under the period At the time the other wife is and so many things happened Some happened because of the kind of lifestyle that we're living some were used as excuses and all that But right now we're not even looking at the wife As it is we're looking at the woman generally and especially the young girls in our society On the privileged girls especially in Nigeria struggle with sanitary Materials and right now we're going to be celebrating the world menstrual hygiene day on the 28th day of May 2023 is usually on the 28th of May every year, but today we're going to be talking with an Okay, I don't want to use the word expert. I want to use Something else with someone who has a burning Desire a burning burden to make sure that every young girl in our society a Has access to this sanitary materials and I am talking about Miss Margaret Aladdin Shalu who is a writer a change maker And a feminist good morning and welcome to the program. Good morning. Thank you for having me Okay from my experience with feminists in Nigeria. There are two types of feminists I'd like to just know which of them you are when you say you're a feminist. What do you mean about yourself? I think when it comes to feminism, there are so many misconceptions and Actually, a lot of people just choose to believe whatever they want to believe They do not actually take time to educate themselves about what feminism is and you know the true essence of it So for me, I would say my feminism I Just want to get rid of every form of inequality every form of unfairness that comes to be in a woman That comes in gender rather I would love some sort of equality for both men and Women actually, I think people do not understand if our feminism actually benefits all genders because when we're talking about Feminism one the best for men one the best for women We just want everybody in the world to be happy and comfortable Irregardless of their gender that's safe for me. That's what my feminism is about. Okay I needed to get that out of the way because some people that feminism is just men hit us We just hit men and then you are a feminist you you're fighting for the rights of women by just talking down on the men Challenging men in everywhere. Actually, that's not feminism. That's miss Andrew So they tend to people tend to like make some both together I think that would be people that spend too much time on Twitter when you actually take time to study what feminism means outside of social media You would understand that feminism is in fact a great thing. It's something that may benefit every single person in the world So it really it really Beats me hollow when I see people calling themselves feminists and doing the kind of things that do saying the kind of things They say but that being out of the way We're zeroing in on the fact that you have this burden that some girls do not have access to Sanitary pass for instance and all that and you started an agitation So let's get a background sort of why you have to start this what triggered it Okay, so first of all I Kind of noticed that this is a conversation that people are not having and at some point I just had to sit down and I'm like Why are people not talking about this and if people are not talking about something you can be the conversations that are so I went to a girl's school a Single-sex school. I saw so many things in school You know being in that kind of environment where you just run it by young girls to see people's realities You see, you know, you learn to recognize your own privileges as well. So while I was in school people like always and other like NGOs that deal with menstrual products, they would come to my school and They would share parts to every single person in the school and then would leave for assembly and would come back And we'll notice that parts are missing from our bags You know the parts that we've been given are missing for from our bags and I would say like what sort of person will steal parts What sort of psychotic person will steal parts because at that point I was still very I was living in my own Privilege world. I did not see a problem with the fact that all girls that are not like me girls They're not as privileged as I was at the time Probably don't have it as easy as I did So then as I grew I learned to realize that these people were stealing parts because that was all they could do That was the only way they could access Mestral products that month. That was the only way they could bleed without you know Subjecting themselves to physical arm and all of those things and you just start to realize that okay This is some sort of issue that we all need to be talking about and lately people have been talking about it on Twitter because I think we're all learning to just like See beyond our privileges pure poverty is something that affects a certain demography of women And that's that particular demography of women are women that often silence women that often ignore their stories And do not usually get out there So that way you you do not realize that eating it is an issue because people are not talking about it These people that affected do not have the resources do not have the platform to talk about what they are going through and how it is Directly affecting their life So that is why it's important for people like cost that have the privilege that have the platform to come out and say that Okay, this problem exists and we need to be talking about it And I do not realize how much of a problem it was until my cousin Directly suffered from it. So as at the moment said seven million women in Nigeria so far from pure poverty But when you do not know anybody that are that is directly That is quite a number, but you do not realize that because it just sounds like a number It's just a number. That's why I'm not a numbers girl. So I'm right as I'll tell the story instead that way You can connect with this issue that way that you can see that this issue actually exists so my cousin sometime in 2018 she has to write a job exam and She has to travel to another state to write that exam She did not know she was going to get a period that day It just came and it was quite like sudden and she had not planned to you know spend I think around that time it was 600 era a pad was 600 era But at the time she already had money for transport and it was either do I spend this money on pad or do I spend this money on transport? How am I going to get them if I spend this money on pad? So she went out there. She was asking people adults that Please can you spare me 600? Please can you spare me 600 and that went on for a while And by the time she returned back to her exam or they were already inside your she could not enter She could not write a job exam the exam she had traveled to write She could not write it and for the longest time my cousin used to talk about oh, I want to become a lawyer Oh, I want to do this I want to do that and I knew I'll be she was on our education And to see that it's something as natural as biological as a period that would stop her from being able to write our exam That year that was very hard-breaking for me And I think that was the first time I realized that okay This is an issue that exists. This is something that we need to be talking about This is something that we need to do something about I'd say for me. That was really like the eye opener Okay That experience was in 2018. What did you actually begin this advocacy? Okay? so last year I had the privilege to be one of the chain makers from we create chain Nigeria that's an arm of chain.org and I told my sister. I'm like I do not have such a large followership on his social media I'm not like exactly the face of period poverty. I do not I did even know that my voice could hold so much power So when chain.org gave me that opportunity I was like, you know what I'm going to take it What's the worst that can happen and when I started my petition? I was struggling to get under signatures like that was from the beginning my first hundred signatures came from personnel Contact and family and friends So I was like if I can't even get under signatures if I can't even get under people to sign this petition and make them realize That okay, this is an issue that exists How am I sure that people are going to care so for the longest time? I would say I held back on actually doing something because I felt like why are other people not talking? Why can't all that people do the talking? So I think in 2020 I just came to the realization that you can talk you can be the conversation starter and People are going to you know, follow in that accord. So I'd say yes Like that is actually when I came to the realization that I had to do something I had to be the conversation starter. Okay, you were struggling to have a hundred Signatures, but how much do you have it now? As of today? I have 6200 and something by the time we update it and refresh it would probably be more Okay, so when you get put out a Conversation like this and people are signing the petition and all that when you hope that petition signing will get you Okay So when you start a petition on chain.org you kind of absolutely link your petition to a certain email address So for every 6,000 people that have signed this petition the minister of women affairs in Nigeria has received 6,000 emails regarding this issue So she's very much aware of the fact that okay someone is petitioning against this as an issue And I think she's aware at the moment because I have also personally reached out to her via email Even though I got no response But yeah for every person that signs that petition she gets an alert that okay This is happening these people are talking about this. They want you to do something will something be done Do you hope that something I genuinely hope that something will be done by the Nigerian government or another? organization actually I think Mention products a lot of people do not know this but menstrual products are actually they're actually luxury to many women and girls in Nigeria and I think that's that is quite a shame to the government of any country that is something as simple something as you know as Natural as a menstrual product would be referred to as luxury So I genuinely hope that my voice would get to the right authorities It would trigger them to do something and would actually be able to achieve like change with this petition What is that something you want them to do it because if for instance you are saying they should Give it out for free that would be the first thing in Nigeria that the government will give out for free So maybe that is not realizable. Actually Wouldn't be the first thing so when I was in university we could work into youth centers and get condoms and I just used to think you know sex is voluntary you can choose to have sex and On the contrary pads were sold for higher prices on campus So let's say you get your period and campus and the normal price of a tannish you parties It's under it by the time you go to where you can the only place you can get things on campus You're getting it for about one thousand five hundred and I just used to think oh, this is such a problematic irony So condoms are free. I understand that you cannot really compare like the way they're given by the Nigerian government or the United Nations or I'm not quite sure but we are talking Nigerian government. Yes. Yes, actually. Yeah, so that's the issue So how what will what would be the the end game as it is? What would be the the final thing that you want the government to do at the moment what? I am petitioning for is for all taxes to be exempted from sanitary products all sanitary products tampons parts Every single one of them. We want all taxes to be removed That is going to reduce the price of this product by a very significant amount and it would make it more accessible For girls, so I think that is something that the government can do and that is something that they should do Yeah, okay, your voice is now being heard by the minister of health and all that How much of this your voice is heard by international community? so sometime earlier this year Malala retweeted my My petition and that kind of came to me as a little bit of a shock because this was something that I was scared to Start in the first place This was something that I wasn't even sure that you know It was going to gather like that sort of attention and then one day I wake up and I'm getting like all these tags I'm getting like all this retreat and I went to my Twitter I'm like looking at all these notifications and I realized that Malala actually tweeted about it I just letting the whole world know that is this so any year would change maker from Nigeria that is trying to do this and Trying to do that and I think for me. That was that was a validation that I did not know that I needed That was like I was doing something right and yeah, so so far we've Had the privilege to be featured on international publications as well My story has been told on assembly. So those sort of things making me like Confirm that I am doing the right thing by starting this conversation and that the world is listening So the world is listening Nigeria is seeing How much has as the government or whoever is in charge or whoever is relevant to your cause responded to you? So far nothing So I sent out like I said, I've sent out emails as well as an official letters to people that I believe to be the right authority But so far we have nothing what I am optimistic I did not expect that this sort of change would happen, you know in what six months I knew that it would be something that would have to continually, you know strive for is something that would have to talk about Regularly use something that would have to bring more attention to more awareness to so yeah I believe that something will be done eventually because we're not going to stay silent and we're going to keep pushing Okay, but if you can't get the Nigerian government to respond what alternative you have what's the plan B? Like I said awareness. So if the government is not going to Respond by the time we get gaining a certain level but some we bring a certain level of awareness to this issue And when that awareness spreads so like an international audience I believe that the government would have to be held accountable at some point So what we're going to keep doing is we're going to keep, you know Striving we're going to keep pushing this issue. We're going to let the world know that okay girls in Nigeria For them parties parts are parts tampons all of this is their luxury as it should not be their girls I'm missing school days because of period their girls are getting Getting exposed to sexual assault because of their periods that girls are going through Terrible terrible or do just because of something that's biological and simple as periods So the world needs to know this the world needs to talk about this. So at the end of the day I believe that we know that the government is not Nigerian government is not exactly the most Easy to interact with or the most easy to get to succumb to a certain thing So yeah, I like I said earlier I'd not expect it to be easy, but that doesn't mean that we're going to stop anytime soon But how are you interacting with the people who you are also helping because if you talk about removing the tax from Syletric products it means you're helping the companies that Produce them and those that import the product So what you also talked about the fact that at some point people who are responsible for producing or selling Syletric products used to come to a school and distribute this thing So how are you relating with them? How are you talking with them? How what is the level of talk you have reached with them to make sure that when this thing comes is going to Be seamless Talking with them or you're just concentrating on the government honestly for now my major concentration is on the government because We've seen one thing about us as Nigerians. We try to you know Fix issues like we try to take it away from the government and we try to kind of like fix it on our own And I feel like that as kind of saw the government of this country It's it's just like during the end sas era a lot of people were starting to talk it A lot of people were trying we're starting to owe the government accountable and to them that was scary So what I'm trying to do right now is all them accountable. I'm tired of Obviously, I am very proud of the NGOs that going out in the streets You know trying to make salary products as accessible to girls as possible. That is great. That is good But it can be better. We can do better We can owe the government accountable because they owe the power to do more They can do more if they want to they can make sanitary products free if they want to they are government of different countries that do that If they can do that in those countries, we can do that here They are government that take about 50% of the actual prices of Sanitary products and they make it very accessible to people So I think that the government can do more but we would not be able to know how much they can do if we do not try Okay, let me drag great digress a little bit. We have like two minutes more to wrap it up You're a writer as well. So I'd like to pick in have a peek into your mind as well You're doing this advocacy under one hand and you're a writer on the other hand What has influenced what is the writing influencing the advocacy or is the advocacy influencing the writing? I do not take one away from the other. So for me writing is a tool for Focusing you'd be surprised how much storytelling can do So when you go to my portfolio to check all my works, you can kind of direct all of them back to feminism in Every single bit of my writing you would see my feminism You would see what I am asking for you would see my desire to drive change. So yeah I would say I can't hear one from another Google my name and you would see all the evidence of what I'm talking about like every single work That has been written by a lot should Margaret I am equal can be traced back to women's right and feminism Okay, how much of this work can be credited to you? Quite a lot. I think for for my age. I think I have quite an impressive Number of works to my name. So yeah Congratulations then so we're reading more from my grade. I Get it. I get a tongue-twist whenever I try to call this name. I'll let this show Yeah, I guess it was tolerable enough. I Manageable Oh, well, thank you so much for coming on the show. You are a writer a change maker You create change in Nigeria you and we are hoping To be a part of you the process to make sure that whatever you're advocating for because we have girls We have we have sisters. We have children. We have friends who are girls And some of them will not never get to tell you these stories the things that you're talking about Some have not used parts for a very long time. They use alternatives that may not be healthy enough for them And so this advocacy is good very very good. How else can Nigerians help you in this fight as a final work list? Thank you very much for saying that so I think for people that want to help You can go to chain.org you can find my petition there or you can go to my social media accounts where you can find my petition and Please retweets, please sign petitions Please talk about when people are talking about these things try to amplify their voices as well I'm not the only person talking about pure poverty in Nigeria There are other people talking about it So as Nigerians that can really do much you can do so much by lending your own voice to the cause as well By just using your platform even though it's even if it's not as that big of a platform You can do so much with that with your hundred followers. You can do so much by just talking about it here Okay, we've been hearing from my great a lot of Shalu here on the show and he's been she's been talking about pure poverty It's something that we need to Keep talking about if you have not talked about it before you have to start talking about now because it's an issue That is very very important The girl child is their suffering and without telling you the suffering and in silence And we have to be the voice for all these people that are not as privileged as some other people to have these things at their disposal We'd like to say a very big. Thank you to you for coming on the show We do hope that this petition not only reaches where it should reach but it should touch the heart Everything that you need. Thank you very much. Well, we it's a great way to wrap up today's show But before we go we'll leave you with the words of love by which you can catch souls Let me take that again. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls That's according to Mother Teresa and that's how we wrap it up on the show this morning. My name is Nyam Ghul Aggadji Let's do it again tomorrow. Bye for now