By Chioma Gabriel
Benedicta Attoh is currently the Special Assistant to  the Governor of Edo state on Non Governmental Organisations, an appointment she took last year, to organize a detailed database of all the NGOs operating in Edo state and also to identify international donors and explore avenues that will enable foreign investors partner with Edo state government on developmental projects.

In this interview with Esther Onyegbula, she talks about the functions of her office and the factors affecting women’s participation in politics.

Tell us  some of the things  you have done since your appointment .

So far, I have organized  a database of all the NGOs operating in Edo state, both registered and non-registered. We have about three hundred registered NGOs in Edo state.  We also have those that are not registered but are doing very well. We don’t want to isolate anyone.  We want to carry along those that are doing very well but are struggling financially. It is crucial that the NGO community is well informed because they are the ones that are working with the grass root people.

So, as a liaison person between the government and the NGOs, I bridge the gap between the grassroot and the government which is why  I got this appointment .

Attoh

Another thing we  do is try to identify international donors and work in partnership with foreign embassies  to explore ways in which they can partner with  developmental projects taking place in  Edo state  at the moment. My role is to work with Non Governmental Organisations and consolidate their efforts with that of the government for the benefit of the people.

In Edo state, there are  just four women in the cabinet of the Governor and just one in the State House of Assembly. Do you think that women are well represented in this present administration?

This again is a challenge. You know Rome was not built in a day .Governor Adams Oshiomhole appointed four  women into his cabinet:  the Commissioner for Women Affairs, the Commissioner for Arts  and Tourism, and  the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry. These are some of the women appointed in his administration. I believe there is room for improvement but it is a challenge and I am sure the governor is mindful of that challenge.

In terms of the State House of Assembly where there is just one woman out of the twenty- four  members, that again is not a failure on the part of the governor of the state. Rather, it is system’s failure. A system where women are not supported to emerge as nominees or flag bearers is fundamentally flawed. It is not the governor that should be blamed in that regard because that is an elective position. The system in my opinion is seriously faulty and we should be looking at ways of changing the system.

So in your opinion, what do you think can be done to increase women participation in politics in Edo state and in Nigeria generally?

One thing that should be done is that capable women should be encouraged to come out. Then  on the part of women, it is not enough to say that I am a woman and therefore, I deserve this ticket. Capable women should vie for elective positions but also, they should start from the grassroot.

They should also realise that elective offices are not about making money but about building relationships with people right from their   wards level so that when the day of election comes, your people will not deny you. Women need to start attending ward meetings.

I know it is difficult but if we as women want to achieve that change we are clamouring for, then we need to go beyond what we are doing because even in decision making areas,  we will still not be able to make impact of thirty- five percent because, a lot of the women don’t come out for any other reason except to get the  thirty five percent of the quota of  women.

What then is the issue?

The fact is that women need extra support and encouragement because as caregivers, they bear children, they nurture their children, which is the role that society has conferred on them. If we must go beyond asking for more percentage, we need to start consolidating by supporting the few women that are vying for political positions; by giving them extra support like giving money towards child care. For instance, if a woman wants to attend a political meeting, she needs somebody to take care of her children while she is away.

Some years back, you launched an NGO called Dream World Leadership for Girls Initiative in collaboration with the office of the first lady. Has that project   affected lives positively?

Dream World Leadership for Girls Initiative was  primarily to empower young girls. It is an educational support programme to empower young girls and support them through schools. Young girls who are brilliant but without help, they won’t be able to go to school and this was informed by my own experience as a child- bride at fifteen. I had two options which were to  be focused  or to go the way of prostitution. I chose to focus even though life was very hard and there were times I went without food because my parents just didn’t have the resources.  They were very poor and had to raise eleven children in one room.

Currently, I have six girls who were selected from the three senatorial districts of Edo state and these are girls that I never knew before and had no relationship with before now. If I have the resources now that I am fully back to the country, I will give scholarships to one thousand girls in a year if I can.

For someone who was a child bride at fifteen and a mother at seventeen, how were you able to defy all odds ?

I thank God for who I am today because after that experience, I managed to come out of a violent relationship and I am a better person today.

I can tell you the liberating key from that cycle of poverty that I found myself was education and if you ask me today how I broke the cycle of poverty, the first thing I will say to you is education.

There is no compromise.  I am not talking about formal education alone but informal education is also very important as well .

A lot of skills are dying because they have not been passed on from one generation to another.  So, any from of education at all is liberating. Education is power. Information is critical for you to break even  and be able to move from one level to the next.