Foluke Ademokun is the Executive Coordinator of the Ajoke Ayisat Afolabi Foundation (AAAF). Her work revolves around advocacy for women and girls, widows’ empowerment, policy-making, and research. In this interview by Kingsley Alumona, she speaks about her work, women/widows challenges, migration issues, among others.
Over the years, you have built your work and career in nonprofit, public policy, gender advocacy, women empowerment and research. When and how did all these begin?
I was introduced to the civil society sector as a volunteer. I was in Benin City when I volunteered to serve as the secretary of the African Women Empowerment Guild (AWEG). I discovered my passion for promoting women’s and girls’ issues and found it convenient to support any group committed to making life easier for others. My struggles through life and the recognition that when you put in your best, you can achieve great results influence my engagement with people generally, particularly women and girls who found themselves at the short end of benefits.
Since 1995, I have been deploying my expertise, experience and education to remind people how much they can look beyond a failing society, especially one that is not so kind to women and girls.
You are the Executive Coordinator of the Ajoke Ayisat Afolabi Foundation (AAAF). Tell us about the foundation and its latest project.
Ajoke Ayisat Afolabi Foundation was founded in 2008 by Dr Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi MON, the Group Executive Vice Chairman of Sifax Group, and his siblings as a tribute to their mother. The foundation’s overall goal is to improve the quality of life for vulnerable persons. The foundation promotes women’s empowerment, particularly widows, and the education of orphans and vulnerable children through various programmes in the thematic areas of economic empowerment, education and health. As a result of the effect of harmful practices on the ‘widow-head’ household, the AAAF takes the issues of sexual and gender-based violence seriously. Our programmes are deployed through capacity development and advocacy.
The AAAF covers Nigeria, operating from Lagos, Abia, and Kaduna states. Annually, we pay tuition fees for about 600 students from the Lagos and Kaduna locations. In addition to tuition payment — an ongoing project — in December 2022, we included the provision of potable water to rural communities in Lagos, Ogun and Kwara states. Similarly, we are also working with teenage mothers and women farmers in Abia and Imo states.
Your work and investment in widows are well documented. What inspired this aspect of your work?
Research and documentation are critical to evidence-based monitoring and evaluation. Gender discrimination is a factor that negates women’s empowerment, and we have seen that it further exacerbates subsets of women due to their vulnerability. Therefore, to create awareness about issues affecting the subset of women — that is, widows — that we cater for, it is important to deploy an intersectionality approach that recognises the heterogeneous characteristics of the group ‘women’.
To do this, there is a need for evidence and hence documentation. Documentation helps make a case for women like widows who are mostly ignored in government social protection strategy and treated as pariahs by society. For instance, through documentation, we have clearly outlined that widows’ demographics are changing, and it is important that service providers shift from welfare to skills/economic empowerment.
These days, there are widows as young as 25 years old. Some have a university education, and we cannot respond to them with stomach infrastructure as the practice was for older widows. Our documentation also outlines non-communicable diseases and accidents as the two highest causes of death. For this, we are promoting good nutrition, food safety and regulation through our health outreaches.
Following a series of advocacy, in conjunction with other women-focused NGOs, we are glad that the legal environment is getting more inclusive due to landmark judgments on inheritance rights and the domestication of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP Act) across 34 states of the federation. Similarly, we are grateful to contribute our quota on the body of work on widowhood in Nigeria through the book ‘Broken but not Forgotten: Highlights of Ajoke Ayisat Afolabi Foundation’s Work In Support of Widows in Nigeria’.
If you were to recommend two national policies for the federal government on widows’ welfare and empowerment, what would they be?
Based on the vulnerability index developed by the AAAF, my recommendations will focus on national housing and social protection policies for widows. These two, I believe, will reduce the trauma widow-headed household face and provide them with a safe space to operate.
Last year, Project Enable Africa nominated you for the Disability Inclusion and Leadership (DIAL) Award as one of the individuals leading inclusion in civil society organisations (CSOs). Tell us about your inclusion works that landed you the nomination.
The AAAF takes the issue of inclusion seriously because we deploy an intersectionality approach to our work. We ensure that 10 per cent of our work is focused on persons with disability. For instance, our tuition payment (scholarship) programme covers children with disabilities or children born to parents with disabilities. It is our way of ensuring we leave no one behind.
You have engagements with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Migration, especially international migration, is a complex matter. Why did you decide to pick an interest in it?
We encourage migration, but when it is irregular and affects women and children negatively, we are compelled to collaborate with well-meaning partners to develop a solution. In our work, we recognise that widow-headed households are susceptible to exploitation due to their vulnerability. Persons within this household are likely to fall victim to traffickers as sex-tool or child-labourer due to poverty.
I believe you are familiar with the ‘japa’ syndrome in Nigeria, especially among the youth. What do you think this signifies for Nigeria and Nigerians?
For me, this signifies, on one hand, innovation, as our young Nigerians can leverage the most current information, skills and technology. On the other hand, it is a loss of culture as some may never return. I believe the government can leverage the syndrome for the benefit of our nation — if there are processes in place to ease the movement of these young ones in and out of the country. Ultimately, the best option is to provide the enabling environment for all Nigerian to optimize their potential within the country.
I am an optimist. I believe there will be surplus bread in Bethlehem, and soon the country will be attractive to those outside to come and ply their trades.
How would you advise the Federal Government on addressing this almost mass exodus of Nigerians out of the country?
People, particularly the young ones, will always travel. Also, the constitutions and regional and global protocols encourage the movement of goods and people across borders. The issue here is the nuisance value of the movement. The mass exodus indicates the government’s failure to meet basic needs and optimise human assets within its borders.
The government needs to invest in soft and hard infrastructure to stem the trend. This means developing policies that support innovation and youth empowerment. It also means investing in infrastructure like a stable power supply, transportation, technology, and security. Similarly, incubation and innovation programmes will help promote youth startups. I will suggest the government map the economic activities of our youth and find a way to give tax breaks and incentives that will engender youth entrepreneurship.
Nigerians are recognised globally for the industry. I remember the American media queried why Nigerians should be on the list of visa bans. The consensus then was they were top on the list of highly educated populations in the diaspora. Similarly, I remember Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, paid a visit to Yaba in recognition of our youth’s contribution to technology.
The issue is we have a government that has been unable to harness the huge potential of its youths, and now is the time to do something different and correct the deprivation.
Your work involves research and documentation on widows and women’s empowerment. Could you share one of your major findings on how women, especially widows, could be properly integrated into society for their social and economic development?
To integrate widows into society, the key areas to focus on are education, employment, housing, and family support. The lower they rank on any of these indices, the higher their need to be properly integrated.
What other things do you do besides your CSO and nonprofit work? And how do you manage the stress associated with these engagements?
I write and speak. I watch funny skits and find time to travel out of work to manage stress.
You once said that former United States first lady Michelle Obama is your role model. In what ways does she inspire you?
Her dignity and focus inspire me. She recognises the importance of her role in history and carries herself with dignity. She demonstrates the importance of having women exercise agency.
What advice do you have for women aspiring to be like you?
I can inspire women to be the very best of who they are created to be. We are all created uniquely and experienced differently. Where possible, other women can use me as a guide to be the very best version of themselves. I will be overstretching myself if I recommend any woman to aspire to be like me.
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