The Nigeria IWD Awards Gala 2023: Embrace Equity

The second edition of the International Women's Day (IWD) Awards Gala which took place last Saturday, February 18th, was indeed a day to remember.

Convened by UN Women and UNDP in partnership with the British High Commission, the European Union Delegation and the Embassies of France, Germany, the United States of America and Democratic Republic of Congo, the 2023 International Women's Day (IWD) Awards Gala placed emphasis on the importance of male allyship in advancing gender equality by recognising the contributions of key male allies through the newly introduced HeForShe Award.

The Gala aims to increase the visibility of examplary Nigerian women as well as recognize their achievements; advocate for increased women’s political representation; and incentivize change by publicly recognizing women’s empowerment champions.

The Gala celebrates extraordinary Nigeria women who are breaking glass ceilings and advancing women inclusion in the economic, political, social, and cultural sectors of the country.

International artiste ASA, thrilled guests with a superlative performance.

High- level guests at the event included representatives from UN Women, UNDP and the Women Ambassadors of the British High Commission, US Embassy, France Embassy, German Embassy, Australian Embassy, and the European Union Delegation.

Ambassadors Mary Beth Leonard (USA) and Emmanuelle BLATTMANN (France), Dr. Obiageli (Oby) Ezekwesili, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu and Chief Mrs Nike Davies-Okundaye were some of the high profile guests who graced the event.

Prestigious awards were presented across categories such as Political Leadership and Governance; Private Sector; Grassroots and Civil Society; Media and Entertainment; HeForShechampion; Feature Award: DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality; and Outstanding Woman Leader. HE Pauline Tallen and Kemi Adetiba were among the recipients of the awards.

Renowned comedian/compère, Chigurl, was on hand to liven up the event.

Ably represented by our Founder/CEO, Marvella Odili, the event gave her the opportunity to renew old ties and network with high-level guests.

As this year's theme is #EmbraceEquity with the UN theme focused on "DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality", let's all continue to be advocates for progressive gender representation for a more equitable society where gender equality is not just a topic for discussion but engrained in every society's DNA as part of our existential substance. As they say, the future is female and the future is NOW!

What Next For Nigeria After #EndSARS Protests?

In October, Nigeria witnessed a historic protest led by youths clamoring for the total disbandment of a special unit of the police force known as SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad). SARS was initiated to curb crime particularly robbery in Nigeria in the 90s. However, the unit became known as a terror squad notorious for violating the rights of innocent citizens especially youths and women through extrajudicial killings, rape, extortion, kidnapping, intimidation, and even robbery.

 

 

The #EndSARS hashtag which trended worldwide for weeks had the support of international lawmakers, celebrities, and sportspeople including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Kanye West,  Rihanna, Drake, Trey Songs, Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Tammy Abraham, Antonio Rudiger, and a host of others. 

 

 

For the first time in Nigerian history, Nigerian celebrities from the entertainment and sports industry all over the world including Falz, Runtown, DJ Switch,  Wizkid, Davido, John Boyega, Jude Ighalo, John Ogu, and a host of others, actively participated in the protest to #ENDSARS and end police brutality.

 

The Nigerian government responded by disbanding SARS and immediately creating SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics). This did not go down well with the protesters who insisted it was just a change of name and not a full reformation of the unit. They backed up their claims with proof that SARS has been disbanded three times in the last 3 years but they only came back worse.

 

 

 

The leaderless protest which went on peacefully for almost three weeks grew to include other issues affecting youths such as bad governance, injustice, and impunity. 

 

 

 

As one voice, the youths all over Nigeria implored the Nigerian government to take real action to end police brutality, bad governance, increasing poverty, injustice, and impunity.

 

Despite the attacks on peaceful protesters by hoodlums alleged to be sponsored by the government to disrupt the protests, protests continued all over Nigeria.

 

 

 

 

On October 20th, peaceful and unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate, Lagos, were allegedly attacked and shot at by security forces leading to the death of some protesters. Many others were injured and some maimed in the process. Hoodlums took advantage of the chaos to unleash violence and looting in the State in subsequent days. 

 

 

Judicial panels of inquiry have been set up in multiple states in Nigeria to investigate cases of police brutality and possibly compensate families. However, it remains to be seen if the government will keep its word.

 

 

Since the protests died down, #EndSARS protesters have been witch-hunted by the government alleging sponsored terrorism. Cases of frozen bank accounts,  arrest from homes, and seizure of passports to stop traveling, have been trending on social media. These acts are quite contradictory to the promises made by the Nigerian government to listen to the cry of the youths. 

 

 

It is a month after the unfortunate incident at Lekki and an investigative report by CNN has confirmed the attack on peaceful protesters at Lekki tollgate. Sadly though, no one has been persecuted yet for this attack. 

 

The question now is what next for Nigeria after the #EndSARS protests? 

UNICEF HOLDS TWO-DAY LIVE CHAT EVENT IN LAGOS HIGHLIGHTING U-REPORT UNDER SPOTLIGHT INITIATIVE END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.

Within the framework of Spotlight Initiative End Violence Against Women and Girls, UNICEF held a 2-day live chat event at the Golfview Hotel and Suites, Ikeja, Lagos from October 21^st to 22^nd 2019. 

The very educative event focused on the Youth under the U-Report and Innovation was anchored by Innovation Specialist, Mr. Kolawole Ladejobi and Salma Muhammed from UNICEF. In attendance were representatives of UNICEF and CSOs, undergraduate students from University of Lagos (Unilag), corps members, postgraduate students from Unilag and NYSC officials. The Lagos State NYSC coordinator, Mr. Shuaibu Ibrahim and the representative of the Minister for Youth and Sports Development also graced the event. 

Mr. Adedoyin, the representative of the Minister for Youth and Sports Development emphasized the importance of seminars and training for the youths, this he explained was key to the capacity building of the youths “and when you build a youth you are building a nation” he said. Mrs. Dick Ihunabare a representative from UNICEF explained the importance of being a U-reporter and its impact on crime-solving.

Mr. Shuaibu Ibrahim, Lagos state NYSC coordinator thanked UNICEF and U-report for their efforts in building the capacity of the Nigerian youths.

The Spotlight Initiative is a global partnership between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The six mutually reinforcing pillars of the Spotlight Initiative are: Laws and Policies, Institutions, Prevention, Services, Data, and Women’s movements. 

During the interactive Panel session, topics like the root causes and solutions to gender-based violence was discussed.

The event emphasized the use of technology to end violence against women and girls. Bridge Point, SAED Connect and Google Digital Skills, all made remarkable presentations on the use of IT for digital empowerment and the development of youths. 

 

Gifts were presented to the winners of the U-Report quiz at the end of the day 2 event.

The U-Report is an online platform where young people can send and receive useful information about the various happenings in their communities in order to bring about positive social change. It is presently run in 60 countries. Nigeria, with over 3 million youths, has the largest number of U-Report subscribers.

The event which will be hosted in all the 6 States selected for the Spotlight Initiative project was truly a great and inspiring experience. It was a call to action of all youths to take positive steps to end violence among women and girls in Nigeria.

Save Our Needy was ably represented at the workshop by Marvella Odili, Founder/CEO. 

Spotlight Initiative Nigeria Organizes 3--Day Orientation Workshop for Implementation Partners

A 3-Day Orientation Workshop was organized in Lagos by the Spotlight Initiative Nigeria working in collaboration with Spotlight Global, for its implementation partners. Participant States were Lagos, Ebonyi, Adamawa, Cross River, FCT and Sokoto.

Some of the participants at the workshop

The training sessions aimed at exchanging ideas, sharing of knowledge and experiences, brought together key government ministries, selected Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Recipient UN Organizations (RUNOs). The sessions also gave the much needed opportunity to network. During the training sessions, participants were intimated on the project deleverables, targets, implementation arrangements, reporting/financial reporting requirements. The project start-up workshops supported the development of a results-oriented, state-specific CSO workplans from the already approved Spotlight Initiative (SI) 2019 workplans. Save Our Needy was one of the CSOs selected to participate at the workshop. The organization was represented by its Founder/CEO, Marvella Odili.

Marvella Odili (L) at the workshop

Adetutu Ajibodu, Centre Manager, WARIF (L) with Marvella Odili

Marvella Odili, Founder/CEO, Save Our Needy at the workshop

Marvella Odili

Marvella Odili

 

Patience, UN Women (middle)

The Communications trainer at the workshop

The Spotlight Initiative, a joint initiative of the EU-UN, is centred on the theme, Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls. The initiative aims to support the transformative change on the ground to end violence against women and girls, and harmful practices, in numerous countries globally. Nigeria is one of the eight countries in the African region selected to benefit from the Spotlight Initiative. It is anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (UNSDPF) 2018-2022 and is implemented by five UN agencies (UN Women, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA and UNDP), the Government of Nigeria, including federal and State governments and Civil Society. 

#SpotlightEndViolence #SpotlightNG

Mr. Kwasi emphasizing on a point