Form the habit of supporting your fellow women always — Adewumi tells women traders
By Abba – Eku Onyeka, Abuja
Women traders have been advised to be supporting their fellow women always. With the belief that 75 percent of traders in Abuja and Nigeria in general are women, the Woman Leader, Abuja the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTs), Dr (Mrs) Rachael Adewumi has urged women traders and indeed all the women in FCT and Nigeria in general to form the habit of supporting their fellow women in their pursuit of genuine aspirations.
Appealing to the women to shun the attitude of pulling their fellow women down while aspiring or contesting for political positions; seeking for public office appointments, among others, she said that if such attitude is not stopped, or curtailed to the barest minimum, the women, according to her will continue to be treated with disregard and relegated to the back seat, by their men counterparts.
Adewumi said this as her International Women’s Day (IWD) message to the women traders recently, when she and her officials visited their members in AMAC market, Lugbe, FCT, which coincided with the recently marked IWD.
The Woman Leader has over the time been touring round the FCT markets to consolidate unity among the traders.
She said: “The theme for this year’s IWD is Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID – 19 World. So my message for them is for the women traders in FCT and indeed, Nigerian women in general to form the habit of helping and supporting themselves, especially when a woman comes out to aspire for or contest for a political position. Against all these violence and insecurity in the country, let them be vigilant all the time.
“So my main message to them is to shun backbiting. Let us love and support ourselves, because if we don’t do that, the men will continue to relegate us to the back seat and better things will continue to elude us. So I repeat it again; even if you don’t know the woman, so far she is a woman, let the women love and support their fellow woman.
“If we can do this, we shall be able to step up and acquire positions. Election is on the way, and people will come out to stand for elections. So Iet us come forward and put party, religion, tribe, among other similar things apart and support ourselves, to enable us get whatever we want from the government.”
Though she maintained that the women traders outnumber their men counterparts in FCT and Nigeria in general, but when asked, if the women shouldn’t be blamed for their ordeals, the FCT NANTs Woman leader said all the women should share the blame and urged them to stop shying away from holding positions.
“Actually, all of us shall be blamed. I urge our women to stop shying away from holding public posts. If there is any nomination, vacancy, the women should strive to possess it. So women traders constitute over 75 percent of all the traders. In line with our slogan; we are the heartbeat of the nation’s economy. I therefore advise them to start to step up; not to be taking the back seat everytime. They should try. There is no crime in trying. If you try and fail, you try again,” she advised.
On what they needed from the government, she said: “As you know, we are majority. The COVID-19 loan from Federal Government (FG) didn’t go round. You can see the complaints everywhere. Let FG initiate women traders loan, mainly for the women alone for them to have the feeling, because the one they gave, didn’t reach the women and women constitute majority of the traders in Nigeria. If they are empowered, it will address the economy.”
Earlier in a remark, Amb (Mrs) Rachael Adewumi told the women to be committed and financial members of the NANTs. Speaking on its benefits, she informed that non-committed and non-financial members have over the time been denying themselves the opportunity to, among others be allocated houses at NANTs estates; the opportunity to assess loan through NANTs. She informed them that there were a lot of things that were on the ground, which according to her, they should get through their Woman Leader.
She informed that the women should be getting higher share of the good things that have been happening in NANTs due to their high population, but regretted that most of them were not committed and financial members. She also informed that the NANTs Cooperatives is there, adding that a qualified member can get loan at a less interest rate, against what is obtainable in the Microfinance banks. Urging them to work with their Woman Leader, Adewumi spoke at length on the need to be a financial and committed member of the NANTs, due to its benefits.
In her 2021 IWD message as the visit coincided with the global celebration, the Deputy Woman Leader, Mrs Ajibike Saratu urged her fellow women to challenge: poverty, insecurity, girl child abuse, envy and competition among themselves; sexual and violence against women. She therefore called for unity of purpose among the women, even as she called for empowement of the women by the government, saying that if you empower the women, you have empowered a while nation. Ajibike therefore advised that they see themselves as partners, instead of seeing themselves as competitors. She spoke at length on the benefits of unity.
Chairman of the AMAC market traders, Evangelist Chinedu Ihekire, while speaking to our correspondent, enjoined FCT women traders to give their Woman Leader all the needed support, which if done, according to him will go a long way. For their aims and objectives of unity of purpose to be achieved, he also asked them to put tribalism, nepotism, religious and party politics, differences and other sentiments apart.
In agreement with the FCT Woman Leader, AMAC market traders Woman Leader, Ogbuefi Chinyere Grace challenged the women to come out and occupy their positions in FCT and Nigeria in general. She therefore appealed to the FCT Woman Leader to not only continue to fight for loans from the government for the women traders, but also ensure that the women are included in workshops and seminars on how to manage the their business and the loan if obtained. Ogbuefi Chinyere Grace also advised the men to give the women all the needed supports, for them to succeed within and outside their homes.
