Olasimbo Sojinrin has been a strong advocate for renewable energy and women empowerment in Africa. She is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Solar Sister and President, Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON), which was founded by her late mother and activist, Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi.
In this interview, she talks about her mother’s inspiration and focus on combating the trafficking of women and children. She also recalls how the mother continued working from her sick bed till the last day.
By Agatha Emeadi
Tell us about the Women’s Consortium of Nigeria.
The Women Consortium was founded after the Beijing Conference in 1995. My late mother, Mrs. Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, went with the Nigerian contingent to defend women’s rights, and represent the voices of Nigerian women. On her return to Nigeria, she started WOCON, which was the pioneer organisation that started talking about trafficking of women and child rights.
She was also very vocal in her support for the political advancement of women. She recognised the fact that women needed to be in power for a lot of things to happen. She gave attention to many of the issues around gender inequality, which we are facing now.
So, a lot of the work that WOCON did then and continues to do is really around promoting the rights of women and children. In the political sphere, I am talking about trafficking in persons, sex trafficking, children trafficking, and ensuring that women are educated and the need for safety nets for vulnerable women and children who are faced with these issues.
Were you also part of the Beijing team like your mother in China?
No. I did not follow her to the Beijing Conference, but I used to follow her to other conferences and that was where I picked up interest in constitutional development as far back as 1996. I remember my mum and I wrote a proposal to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), to help rescue and rehabilitate 250 child-domestic workers in the society. I was the Youth Director for WOCON and I used to lead and coordinate all the youth activities for the organisation.
She was a vocal lawyer. Are there other attributes around her personality?
Being a legal practitioner obviously heightened her interest in justice, rights, and gender issues. That is exactly where I got my passion from – being her daughter, watching, and seeing her being very vocal and strong in all that she believed in, especially for the women’s sake. In fact, through her works, she made a lot of representations for Nigerian women both locally and internationally, to discuss gender issues.
She had the African identity aso-oke suits, is this something you also identify with?
I chose to differ a little from my mother’s belief. Instead, I wear Ankara and traditional fabrics most times. That was how I grew up.
What are some other things you share in common with her?
Fundamentally, I think it is our values, recognising the voice of women, and knowing the gender inequalities that exist. Not just knowing about it but doing something to correct them, being very vocal, interested, and having an active role in actually correcting the imbalance. I think those are some of the things that I have picked up over the years.
What are your memories of her last days?
On her very last day, WOCON had an event at the border, where we were campaigning against illegal migration, educating about the ills of illegal migration and trafficking. And she was down with cancer towards the last day which was already terminal. But, even on the last day, she was still able to give some pointers regarding what to do, how to coordinate the event and assigning specific roles to each other.
So, she was someone I would say worked to the very last day. On her tombstone, is written ‘here lies a woman who worked, and served her life to protect the lives of children and women till her last day.’
She mentored a lot of women. How would you describe these women and what they miss about her?
She was one of the early feminists in the country. I see a lot of women who are now leaders in their own organisations, who worked with her or who she mentored and that has always been the pride of our family, our organisation, and the fact that the work has continued.
A lot of them are women in the space, some of them have held political positions which led to international organisations and it is a proud moment for us when we see such women in the society.
What are you doing now about the trafficking of women?
WOCON is very involved with NAPTIP (National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons). My mum was part of the negotiation for starting the agency, and looking out for their needs. Even after the establishment of the agency, we worked very closely with them. If there is going to be a rescue effort, they would invite us to be part of it, ang go to the border to do the checks. Till date, we offer counselling services at the office. Here, women can come in for free legal counsel and we also do psycho-social counselling which is still ongoing. Again, we are part of several coalitions especially children in the fight against trafficking. number of shelters have come up since we started our work. We have been able to refer people to sister organisations, to benefit from different services. Also, we have done a lot of tracking for victims’ or survivors’ families.