Interview

To move society forward, women should have wherewithal to contribute to economy —Iwalola Akin-Jimoh

Iwalola Akin-Jimoh, a nutritionist, is the Executive Secretary of Youth Empowerment Foundation and Director of Fitness Connections Family Center Gym in Lagos. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE and RASHEED ALADEJANA, she speaks about women in governance, youth empowerment, importance of sports and giving back to the society, among other issues. Excerpts:

You are known as a champion for sports and community development, what fuelled this passion?

I love sports. I’m an avid sports lover, very enthusiastic about sports and I promote sports for young women and girls in particular because I believe it’s a tool for keeping fit. And when you participate in sports, it improves your self confidence and self esteem. And, I also believe a lot in community; when you empower communities, give them the right resources, they will not only protect those resources but they will also use those resources to improve their economic capacities and earn some income. I also believe in women empowerment; one of the things I stand for is that when you want to move a country and a society forward, you need to ensure that the women have the wherewithal to contribute to the economy, to contribute their quota to various sectors of the economy, not just in markets or in companies, but also be active in the boardrooms. I believe when we do this to a very large extent, you move a country and the society forward.

How did you get into the empowerment initiative?

While growing up, one of the things I always believed in and participated in was supporting the less privileged in the society, giving a voice to vulnerable people. And growing up, my mother and my late father had a home that was open to everyone, irrespective of whether you were rich or poor or a relative or not, we had an open door policy. So, I grew up in an environment where you share the very little you have at all times. And so where you have more, you share more. One of the things that this brought out is that for every time you have something and you see somebody that does not have, you give. And so one of the trainings I learnt very early in life to always see the good in people before the bad, because we all have the good in us. It’s important to be kind at all times to fellow human beings and even to nature. So when I travel, whether within the country or outside or I go into communities, one of the things that I see first is the poverty and suffering of people rather than affluence. And this pushes me to even do more.

How easy is it for women in governance?

I think there’s really nothing easy in life, nothing comes easy to anybody except you strive and work hard. So governance, just like so many other sectors of a society and so many aspects of our lives, is not easy. And so I can’t say it’s easy for women in governance. And I can’t say it’s difficult for women in governance. I think one of the key things is that when women go into governance and into politics, they have to go with the mindset of the fact that they’re going to excel. And when you talk about the spirit of excellence and the spirit of being able to achieve, it actually comes from hard work. And hard work for me includes things like knowing your onion, knowing a lot about whatever office that you are leading, being able to take mentorship and encourage your team to ensure that you achieve that excellence in whatever you do; being able to stand up for what is right, support your community, rally round and ensure that your community have all the resources for them to move on so when talking about governance generally, it’s about us, and it’s about how we do whatever we are supposed to do in our little spaces. Saying whether it’s easy for women in governance or it’s difficult for women in governance is not something that I would like to dwell on. But rather, whatever it is that you have that God has put in your hands to do in whatever capacity, how well do you do this and how often do you excel? And how much do you actually contribute to the development of your society? Because when people hear women in governance, they think it’s just about people, women in politics. No, that’s not what we’re saying. It’s also about what you do within your space. And I think one of the key things we need to know is that nothing comes easy.

Is Nigerian society fair to women?

The Nigerian society is not fair to anybody; it’s not fair to men, it’s not fair to women, it’s not fair to children, it’s not fair to adolescents, it’s not fair to young people. And that is what I’ll say about this. How do you have head of governments who have decided to allocate huge sums of money to purchase vehicles when the common man cannot even afford a decent meal in a day? So when you talk about fairness generally, where do you want to start from? The Nigerian society is a patriarchal society and we know, and it’s not about to change anytime soon. So I think the key thing is that let’s have a Nigerian society that is fair to all. When you have a Nigerian society that is fair to all, definitely it will be easy to talk about fairness to women, because the truth of the matter is, when you look at what is happening currently in Nigeria, things are really, really bad. I just feel it’s not about women; it’s about the Nigerian society itself being fair to its own people.

Is there a restriction on women in the political circle?

I think there’s some sort of restriction on women in the political circle because first and foremost, when you look at the makeup of political parties, you find that not many women have, for example, representation in excos and all that, and key roles within the political parties. You see them being, okay, this one is women leader this, women leader that. Do you see men leaders? I’m not sure you see men leaders. So I mean, what we’re saying is a complete genderised party. That’s what we’re looking out for. And when you look at the times that they have their political meetings, the duration of such political meetings, sometimes it’s not really compatible with the schedule of women. I feel that there’s some sort of restriction, but then, we should look beyond the restriction to actually see how we can make women more liable to participate in politics. Those are very key issues.

What is Youth Empowerment Foundation about?

Youth Empowerment Foundation started in 1995. So in another couple of years, we’ll probably 30. And so what this means is that we have generations of young people who have passed through our doors, who have participated in different programs, who are now paying it forward, also supporting young people wherever they are, whether within the country or outside. When we started, we focused on reproduction health problems, information, ensuring that young people had information on reproductive health, their bodies and have services on reproductive health. But as we evolve, we realised that having access to entrepreneurship opportunities and economic empowerment opportunities gives young people edge to even be able to stand up and contribute their own quota not only to the society, but also be able to earn income. We have vocational training programs that we ensure that vulnerable young people have access to, and they are trained. Whatever vocation that you’re interested in, we can guide and set you up to participate in that vocation. And so when you finish, you also have the capacity to pay it forward and also encourage young people to come into your businesses and learn more and also have the opportunity of earning an income.

Now, one of the key things that we also do sports for development programs. And we use our sports for development programs not just as a tool for fitness and wellness, but also to build young girls, in particular their self esteem, their self confidence, the team spirit, and learning to work together towards a common goal. And so we promote Takwando and then we promote football, particularly for young girls. And we work in public schools across Abuja Ibadan and Lagos in about 25 communities, providing this so that young people have the opportunity to work together, to play together, and then to improve their life skills. And like I said, we have generations of young girls who have passed through this program who now go back into some of the schools that they went through whilst they were in secondary school and give back to the girls in the secondary school.

Policies are made that do not have an impact on women at the grassroots, how can this be changed?

When you want to make policies or when you want to conduct programs for grassroots women, if you don’t have their direct involvement, if you don’t have their voice, whatever it is you’re doing, you’re just wasting your time. It’s not going to be relevant. And that applies across several domains. Even you wanting to implement a project in the community, they need to have a voice. So if they don’t have a voice.

What are my thoughts about women having multiple streams of income?

Now, the truth is, currently in Nigeria, having just one source of income, it’s actually dangerous because that source of income can dry up within minutes or even within a day. So it’s important for you to have diverse ways of earning income. So even if you have a steady job, it’s important for you to have other things that you’re doing by the side, which does not mean that you’re not making your deliverables on your regular job, but also to have earning income through other several means.

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