Foundation of wives of ondo state officials, FOWOSO ,is a platform that brings women together from the eighteen local government to brainstorm on inclusion , economic empowerment among others.
The foundation established by the wife of ondo state governor , Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu recently had its 3rd summit this year in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
In this special report ,Olufisoye Adenitan of RADIO NIGERIA finds out if the foundation is actualising its purpose or it is a waste of tax payers money .
Despite the fact that the constitution does not recognise the office of wife of the governor , most governors wife have pet projects and various programs implemented through offices of the wives of the governors.
Many atimes these projects gulp millions of naira of tax payers 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 government were sponsored by the councils for the day one of the event while about one hundred women came for the day two event from each council areas.
Radio Nigeria finds out the financial implication for those women that attended the event as fifty thousand per participant were paid each local government for twenty women
Some other women spoke of the benefits of the programme said they benefited foodstuffs ,Ankara fabrics among others.
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 renike 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 jamborees of dancing , singing and aso ebi often associated with women in political space .
According to them , To achieve economic empowerment for women ,political leaders and their spouses should have more sincerity of purpose in programme implementation rather than using their offices to amass the commonwealth of the people.
CREDIT: Radio Nigeria
Leave a Reply