BY PETER DURU, Makurdi

In this interview, Benue State First Lady, Arc. Mrs. Dooshima Yemisi Suswam spoke about Nigerian women in positions of responsibility, inter tribal marriages and lots more. Excerpt:

Involvement in humanitarian service
The motivation is simple, Almighty God. He instructed that we reach out to the poor and needy. And as First Lady of the state and one who has a firm grip on the omnipotent God, I am compelled to reach out to the needy and I do it with so much joy because it gives me much pleasure when I do that.

For me that is one way of saying thank you to the Almighty for his mercies and goodness. After all His banner over us is love. And when you reach out, you are demonstrating the love of God which He gave us freely.If He can give us freely why not replicate same by reaching out. That is the philosophy. And I also encourage well-to-do Nigerians to do same. Because if you do that, so many would be saved from treading the part of destruction which the bible abhors. That is the motivation.

Your Church donation to the Anyii community,  your husband’s village
Well, the church donation was in fulfillment of my secret promise to God. I made a request of Him with a promise that I will build Him a place of worship. And to His glory, He fulfilled my requests and I had to build the church to show appreciation and also in fulfillment of my promise to Him. He has been faithful as always. And what else is a better way to say thanks but to build a sanctuary for Him.

It gives me innermost joy to feel that He is still there for me and my family despite our shortcomings because no man is perfect. That is simply why I embarked on that project and I thank God that he saw me through and I thank God for the worshippers and members of that community because they have put the sanctuary to good use. It’s all to the glory of God and not any man

Coping with inter cultural  marriage
It has not been very easy, but I give thanks to God. You know, God is a God of purpose. He does nothing by mistake, He does everything for a purpose. As He made it possible for me to marry from a different tribe that I grew up , shows that He had a purpose for it in the first place. And when you look back, there is no cause for regrets. What is important is that you must realize that it is not an easy part to tread. You need God. Without God you can’t achieve it. God has been faithful.

*Mrs Suswan presenting a cheque to an orphan

Impact of  Benue culture and tradition on the lives of women
You know generally that the African culture is a bit hostile to women. Benue is not an exception. In a situation where a community is discussing an issue of importance,women are not allowed to talk in such gatherings. The culture is such that it is always the first male child that has the right to speak. Even if you are the oldest, as a woman you cannot speak. So, if that is fair, I leave that to you to discern.

On violence against women
When it comes to widows rights and other things, it doesn’t happen here. When you talk about violence against women, it’s not different from what happens elsewhere. Here, the culture is such that it is the woman who goes to the farm. She does the tilling of the ground, plants and when it is time to harvest, she does it and hands over everything to the husband who does whatever he likes with the farm yield. That is the culture here.

Girl child education in Benue
You know, in the eastern part of the country, you see a lot of girls in school while majority of the boys are traders. But here in Benue State, it is different and better. But generally, the girl child is still the one that will be the last to go to school if the economy of the family is bad. That is what we are all frowning at. That is why gender mainstreaming comes in.

The solution to this starts from the homes. And we are telling parents that if they must prepare slots in order to send their children to school, they should share it equally among the boys and girls so as to give all of them education. Do you know that in the Nigerian home, when anyone falls ill, it is the girl child that must be pulled out of school to nurse that sick person. It is that bad in this country. We are only praying that these things will change in our life time.

Mrs Suswan

Maternal mortality in the  State
Maternal mortality cannot reduce until all our health facilities are in place and functional. Maternal mortality, shamefully and painfully are still high in Nigeria. We should start from training our traditional birth attendants to develop. Here in Benue, you find out that majority of the people live in the rural communities and are still using traditional birth attendants.

As I am talking to you now, so many people are still delivering their babies in their homes. So a lot of advocacy needs to be done. But if you want to know what the state government is doing through the ministry of health; I can say that all of our health facilities are being renovated and stocked with drugs.

The primary healthcare centers are also undergoing same.
The Governor has also  equipped some of them. So why am I talking about this? Because if you want maternal mortality to reduce, people must start antenatal as soon as they discover they are pregnant. Because birth complications start from pregnancy . If you have a healthy pregnancy, you’ll have a healthy baby and you will be alive to see your baby grow up a normal baby and into an adult .

But if you don’t attend antenatal, you are already endangering yourself and your baby. So, if that is the foundation for resolving the issue of maternal mortality, the institutions that will cater for the pregnant people must be put in order because if you don’t do that, the pregnant women will have no where to consult during pregnancy thereby endangering their lives and that of their unborn babies.

Now we are also trying to sponsor a bill to the Benue State House of Assembly through my office to ensure that maternity is free in Benue State. But we cannot present that bill until the hospitals have been fully renovated, equipped and fully operational, although some of the hospitals have been completed. We’ll definitely put the bill forward to see how it can fly.

As for my office, maternal mortality and issues of HIV/AIDS remain paramount. In our clinics, we have wards for delivery services, etc. You know there are lots of complications arising from HIV/AIDS in pregnant women. It is also aimed at curbing maternal mortality rates. We also have two ambulances which phone numbers have been published and circulated for use by the public. We are still creating awareness for people to come out to be attended to at the right time. Some say I am not feeling any headache and pains nor fever but it is beyond that.

It was pathetic to note  when I visited the Federal Medical Center on the 1st of January, the first baby of the year 2012 in this state was not a normal baby. It was very painful; the second child, the same thing.There was one that the mother died at birth.

My advice to everyone who will read this is,once you are pregnant as a woman, please start antenatal care. And for the husbands, please ensure that your wives do not fail to attend antenatal the moment they become pregnant. It is important. Everyone should join their voices with us in this outcry.

Performance of  Nigerian women in positions of authority
You see, there is no perfection anywhere in the world but the most important thing is that we have started . And we just want to thank the leadership of Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan because today in the federal cabinet, we have about 13 women and they are not doing badly at all.

If you put them side by side with the men and score them accordingly, you will see that they are not doing badly at all. So we are coming up. I believe that with the representations we have been able to make at both the state and federal levels, especially in my state for example, it is quite encouraging.

I can vividly tell you those who are doing well and those who are not. I think it is worthy of exultation. Nigerian women have done us proud because they are not doing badly. I have trust in the Nigerian woman. But when we say women, it is not every woman but those with integrity, professionals who can stand their own anytime. Those who can do the country very proud if given the opportunity.