In Ondo State, Foundation of Wives of Ondo State Officials, FOWOSO is a platform that brings women together from the eighteen local government areas to brainstorm on inclusion, economic empowerment among others.
The foundation established by the wife of Ondo State governor, Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu had its 3rd summit this year in Akure.
In this special report, Radio Nigeria’s Olufisoye Adenitan finds out if the foundation is actualising its purpose or it is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Despite the fact that the constitution does not recognise the office of the wife of the governor, most governors’ wives have pet projects and various programs implemented through offices of the wives of the governors.
Many times these projects gulp millions of naira of taxpayers’ money.
The FOWOSO programme hyped to be a forum for women empowerment also turned out to be a social gathering characterized with the usual Aso-Ebi and dancing jamboree.
20 representatives of women each from the eighteen local governments of Ondo State were sponsored by the councils for day one of the event, while about one hundred women came for day two of the event from each council areas.
Radio Nigeria found out that the financial implication for the women that attended the event as fifty thousand naira per participant paid by the local governments.
Some other women who spoke of the benefits of the programme said they received foodstuffs, Ankara fabrics among other things.
The question now is if FOWOSO had actually fulfilled its purpose considering the state of the economy which had affected negatively implementation of capital projects as well as payment of salaries among others.
The chairman of the 3rd FOWOSO Summit, a Retired Major, Mrs Morenike Alaka during visits to media houses had insisted that the programme was empowering women for sustainable development and inclusion.
Though the 3rd FOWOSO summit has come and gone, analysts, however, said genuine and purposeful leadership was still needed to bring women out of poverty with adequate inclusion rather than the usual jamboree of dancing, singing and aso-ebi often associated with women’s events in the political space.
According to them, to achieve economic empowerment for women, political leaders and their spouses should have more sincerity of purpose in programmes’ implementation rather than using their offices to divert the commonwealth of the people.
Olufisoye Adenitan
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