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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, on Tuesday, raised over N300 million from the private sector for the Empower-Her: Nigeria for Women Farming, Health, Empowerment, Justice, and Entertainment.
According to her, she decided to go outside the Ministry of Women Affairs to raise funds to address challenges facing women and children in the country in accordance with President Bola Tinubu’s directive to her to think outside the box and proof herself.
Speaking at a “Empower-Her: Nigeria for Women Farming, Health, Empowerment, Justice, Entertainment and Fund-raising Dinner”, the minister while emphasising her commitment to empowering women despite bureaucratic hurdles said, “I want to make it categorically clear that I didn’t raise this money for Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, in case of people that love to nose around, people that just love to get involved in things that don’t concern them.
“I raised this money today for the affairs of Nigerian women. So that what the President said that the women should breathe, they will breathe,” she declared.
Kennedy-Ohanenye who said she has had to deal with a number of petition against her from the ministry stated: “Now, I have gotten this mobile court for a while now, over five to six months ago, I didn’t have money to do nothing. No money has been coming out of that ministry for me to work. Everything you have been seeing, I have been using my money to do it. They are owing me procurement, and otherwise still, they will go ahead and write petition and say, Barrister Uju did procurement.
“Procurement is viament, what kind of viament are you talking about? Will I come to work without fuel? Will I do work in my office without papers? Will the women just sit down and die off because of putting bottlenecks?.
“Let them write petition. I await them. I don’t run away from trouble, but I don’t look for one. They can take me to court if you feel I’ve done anything, but when it comes to serving my women, I will go out of my way to do that.
She expressed frustration with the bureaucratic obstacles she faces, stating, ““So, if I had kept quiet waiting for Federal Minister of Women Affairs money to work, trust me, the President, would have sacked me by now because he’s a no nonsense President. He sent you there to give results. He sent you there to think out of the box to give results. But most times when I think out of the box, EFCC will come start asking questions, something I’ve thought out of the box.
“So I have done this. I thought out of the box to raise this money. I called on my brothers. If you check out, mostly people that came here today, you can see for yourself. I don’t want to mention anything, because we are one Nigeria.
“So I brought this money. So that this job will move on. I can’t continue waiting for this mobile court, spending so much money in the normal courts and not getting results because it takes a lot of time. That’s why the mobile court will need to take off.”
In a bold move to address rising cases of violence against women and children, she announced plans to establish mobile courts. “I will buy two buses for mobile courts in Abuja and Nasarawa,” she stated decisively. “One will be remodeled as a court while the other will serve as a raiding bus.” She emphasized the urgency of her mission: “I can’t continue leaving our children on the streets while men are defiling them.”
Kennedy-Ohanenye expressed deep concern over the plight of vulnerable girls in Nigeria, sharing heartbreaking stories: “Every day I get one case or another; my heart is broken. You see a three-year-old whose father has defiled her; you see a four-year-old who has been sodomized by a teacher.”
She criticized systemic inefficiencies and corruption on donor agencies projects in Nigeria, asserting, “The rich get richer while our women and children suffer. The empowerment initiatives have been going to the wrong hands.”
Concluding her remarks with a call for collective action, she said, “The renewed hope is on ground… there must be consequences for negative actions.”
She affirmed her determination to prove her capabilities and secure further funding to uplift Nigerian women and children. “The President told me, ‘Show me what you can do, and I will empower you through that.’ Now it’s time for me to prove myself.”
Donations came in cash from banks, organisations and notable individuals like Arthur Eze who donated N100 million. Others donated vehicles for mobile courts, computers and other equipment for empowerment at the event.
