Jamila Nuhu Musa
18 November 2007
For the past decade the National Council for Women Society (NCWS) an umbrella for women in the country, has been bedevilled with crisis.
If it was not the issue of credibility of election into its exalted office, it was the issue of fraud involving women that have been given the mandate to stir the ship.
At other times it would be the crisis that emanates from the 'bring down syndrome.' that some women groups are known to exhibit when they feel that one woman in their group, other than another should be in a place. For the NCWS, intrigues had culminated in the elections of its national president anytime there was a change of guard. Speaking in an interview with Sunday Trust last April, a former national president of NCWS, Madam Amina Esther Sambo, speaking about a crisis which pitched the present national president of the association, Hajiya Ramatu Halilu Bala against the former minister for women affairs, Hajiya Inna Maryam Ciroma, said, 'this is not the first time that the council would be enmeshed in crisis'. She disclosed that before she herself came on board as national president, she had to struggle to assert her mandate even though the tenure of the then women leader, Hajiya Laila Dogonyaro had expired by 3 months. In the same vein, when Madam Sambo's tenure ended and she sought a second term, some anti Sambo forces flushed her out and brought in Hajiya Zainab Maina.
Intrigues such as these have been the bane of the progress of women in Nigeria, right from the 60s when skirmishes were noticed to have begun to penetrate the fabric of its umbrella up till 2003, when a fraudulent act brought crisis in the society to the fore.
The scandal began to unfold shortly after the NCWS secured a federal government grant of N1126m, for disbursement to grassroots women groups as revolving soft loans. At the time, Mrs Bolere Ketebu-Nwokeafor was at the helm of affairs of the association. Reports indicated that Nwokeafor's predicament started when an anonymous petition to NAPEP was written by a 'concerned' NCWS official alleging that the woman leader, Nwokeafor had perpetrated the highest record of fraud in the history of the association by misappropriating more than 60m, out of the 116m grant meant for poverty alleviation of the women.
That crisis lingered with several court injunctions after which another woman, Hajiya Ramatu Halilu Bala showed interest to contest and came into office as national president of the council in 19th July 2006, after the national convention held in Lafia, Nasarawa state. But that election was also surrounded by controversy.
Bala in an interview explained to Sunday Trust what actually happened. "The crisis in the NCWS dates back a decade, but in our own case there wasn't any problem on the ground before the election because on the 24th of June, 2006, we all agreed to converge in Lafia, Nasarawa state for the national convention and election. On getting there, the meeting decided that elections should be held as we usually did. When the election was on, we discovered that one zone was absent for reasons that were not known to the council. The fact was that 25 states were in attendance and 8 national affiliate organizations registered with the council, therefore we formed a quorum and we were well above quorum which our constitution stipulated, so we went ahead and had a very free, fair and credible election. After the elections, there were claims of dissatisfaction, that the council did not follow due process in its decisions. But no paper was brought to the council to the fact that people were dissatisfied. So it was the aggrieved persons that did not follow due process because up till this moment that Iam talking to you, no petition has come through the office". She contended.
The national president stated however, that the crisis is now over 'because all the cases we had in court were ruled in favour of NCWS, we commend the judiciary for looking into the matter constitutionally.'
She was also quick to place the blame on the door step of men, whom she accused of instigating the crisis in the first place. "It has made us discover that men gave us a little space and then they instigated us to fight and in the cause of our fighting, they occupied the space they gave us". She added. Then expressed optimism that women have learnt lessons from the crisis that they should be transparent at all times for them to succeed in whatever they are doing. The crisis also made it possible for the council to exercise its powers and ensure that women seeking election into important positions get to where they aught to be, thereby accenting the acceptance of women into critical positions in governance.
Do the women in Nigeria know the national president of NCWS? Hajiya Ramatu Halilu Bala answers in the affirmative, "Yes they know me, and the council has a structure through which we can reach them in the 774 local government areas of the country". Now that the crisis of the NCWS is over, what plans has the council for women to enable them gain their lost glory during the crisis ridden period? Hajiya Ramatu Halilu Bala stated thus, "We are going to call all the stakeholders back because the council does not belong to just a group of women but to all Nigerian women especially the voiceless women and children." She emphasized that her stay in Abuja and Lafia would not hinder her interaction with the women who are mainly at the grassroots.
But a cross section of women who spoke to Sunday Trust, allege that the NCWS, under Hajiya Ramatu Halihu Bala has not made much impact for them to know its existence. Madam Ngozi Emmanuel a market woman stated that "I do not even know that the council is still in existence. At the state level we still hear about them but at the national level I do not know what is happening. Saratu Adamu Zango from Zaria, on her part, said the council has become politicized by the women leaders "All that they know is how to gain political relevance. Yet for Malama Hadiza Abdullahi a food seller in Abuja, there are so many women associations, we do not know which is which".
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