...Says she's running project with stipends for food from husband
Mrs Titi Abubakar, wife of former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has lamented neglect by Nigerians, saying they have refused to support her pet project, Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, WOTCLEF, just because she's married to the politician and business tycoon.
She, however, vowed never to be deterred by the development,saying she was determined in her efforts to see complete eradication of twin evils of women trafficking and child labour across the globe.
Mrs Abubakar revealed that she had been running the affairs of the foundation she created some 24 years ago with the stipends provided for her food by her husband.
Titi, in her remarks after being conferred with the Champion 2023 Leadership (Heart of Gold) Award, by Champion Newspapers Limited weekend, thanked the newspapers for recognising her relentless efforts in the fight against women trafficking and child labour and according her the award.
She said: "I have been doing this job for 24 years and nobody has ever recognised me. They have not called me for recognition and I said to myself that I'm just doing God's work, that my reward is in heaven.
"There was a day I put an advert in the newspaper that these children I'm taking care of are not my children but Nigerian children, that even if it is one Penny, they should all contribute and still nobody contributed anything.
"They said after all, I'm Atiku's wife. It is one thing to be married to Atiku and it is another thing to have the passion to do what I'm doing. And because I have passion for what I am doing, I will continue to strive.
"When I was in the Villa, I was feeding these children with government's food and out of government, I'm still taking care of these children."
She thanked those working in the foundation, saying they had stood by her, even as she didn't have so much money for them.
"I have been carrying this crusade for so many years. These people you see working with me, I don't have so much money to give them but they are working."
Prohibition of Trafficking Persons, NAPTIP.
Continuing, she said:" I thank you all for coming, especially those that donated, because I have been doing all these for years with my food, money, the stipend my husband is giving me and I'm happy to do it because I'm serving humanity."
She hailed the organisers for not only recognising her good work but also choosing to give her the coveted award
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"It is my utmost pleasure and delight to be here today as a recipient of Champion Newspapers' Leadership Award. I am the champion of champions today. Champion Newspaper, you are the only one that brought me out to come into a gathering like this and for people to donate to my cause and to the Nigerian cause because these children are not my children and they are all over the country.
"It is my utmost pleasure and delight to be here today as a recipient of Champion Newspapers' Leadership Award 2023, being conferred on me today in recognition of my relentless fight against the twin evils of human trafficking and child labour," she added.
