Gov. DAPO ABIODUN Empowers OGUN Women

 •As He Flags Off Oko'Wo Dapo Project In ABEOKUTA

 

On the 1st of April 2022, Gov. Dapo Abiodun Flagged-Off OKO’WO Dapo Scheme, to empower women across Ogun State. The ceremony was held at M.K.O. International Stadium, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

ARRIVAL OF OGUN STATE GOVERNOR PRINCE DAPO ABIODUN

It was a thing of joy as Gov. Dapo Abiodun, walked around the stadium to appreciate every woman. You could see the smile on his face as he kept on dancing and waving to everyone.

The event started with the National, State and women's anthem and the opening prayer was done by Mrs Kinrin Florence Ayodele and Alhaja Salako Olayemi.

 

WELCOME ADDRESS BY HON. FUNMI EFUWAPE

Hon. Funmi Efuwape is the Commissioner for Women Affairs in Ogun State. She revealed how Gov. Dapo Abiodun, father to all the women across Ogun State has been wonderful to the women. She welcomed everyone to the event.

 

SUCCESS OF OGUN NFWP & UPSCALING OF OKO’WO DAPO FOR WOMEN

This was done by Her Excellency, Engr. Mrs Noimot Salako Oyedele, the Deputy Gov. of Ogun State.

She spoke about the achievements of Gov. Dapo Abiodun in the last 3 years, and how the Empowerment Program will help women across Ogun State. She called out 3 women who gave testimonies of how they’ve benefitted from the employment program.

 

GOODWILL MASSAGES

The good will massages were done by the wife of the governor, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun, Mrs Zainab Ahmed ( Honorable Ministers For Finance), Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq ( Hon. Minister, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development) and Mr Shubham Chaudhuri (World Bank Country Director).

The world bank team leader Mr Micheal Ilesanmi tasked all the beneficiaries not to see this empowerment, as a National Cake. He encouraged them to use it wisely and make a lot of profits from their various businesses.

 

THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY HON. PAULINE K. TALLEN

Hon. Pauline K. Tallen who is the Minister for Women Affairs, thanked Gov. Dapo Abiodun for a job well done. She revealed how the empowerment program will go a long way to help the beneficiaries. She promised that many of such empowerments will still happen in Ogun State.

 

THE CHIEF OF STAFFS SPEECH

The Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria, Professor Ibrahim Gambari congratulated Gov. Dapo Abiodun and the people of Ogun State. He revealed how President Muhammad Buhari plans to help women across the country and how the empowerment program will go a long way in supporting them.

 

 DAPO ABIODUN FLAGGED OFF OKO’WO IN GRAND STYLE

Gov. Dapo Abiodun Flagged off OKO’WO Dapo Scheme in grand style. He thanked everyone for the love they’ve shown him over the years and he promised that his administration will do more to help women. The high point of the event is the signing of new 3 Executive Orders, to protect all women in Ogun State. He presented cheques, motorcycles, grinding machines and other items to all the beneficiaries.

 

HOW K1, ATORISE & 9ICE DAZZLED AT THE EVENT

When you talk of APC events in Nigeria, it is no news that K1 De Ultimate is always the star artiste. He led other musicians to Abeokuta for Gov. Dapo Abiodun’s  OKO’WO program. Dr Lanre Teriba Atorise and 9ice also performed as everyone danced together.

 

HOW HON. ADIJAT ADELEYE-OLADAPO STOLE SHOW AT THE PROGRAM

Ask anyone about Hon. Adijat Adeleye-Oladapo in Ogun State, they’ll tell you she wields enormous influence in Dapo Abiodun's government. She is a close friend of Hon. Funmi Efuwape who also empowers many women from her ward.

 

GOV. DAPO ABIODUN WELCOMED OVER 20 POLITICIANS

Many prominent personalities stormed the program. Some of them are: SSG Mr. Olatokunbo Joseph Talabi, Mrs. Bola Obasanjo, Hon. Kunle Oluomo, Alake of Egbaland, Oloye Yemi Sanusi, Iyaloja Alaba Nelson, Dr Mrs Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, Olufolake Abdulrazaq, Mrs Salamatu Gbajabiamila, Mrs Gambari and others are all presents at the event.

 

ABOUT OKO'WO DAPO PROJECT

His Excellency, The Governor of Ogun State, Prince (Dr.) Dapo Abiodun MFR is riding on the evidenced-based model of Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP) to scale up and revamp of Okoowo Dapo across the remaining LGAs of Ogun State. Okoowo Dapo for Women (ODFW), an SME group that in turn results in a sustainable creation of wealth, and economic growth, alleviating poverty in Ogun State.

Okoowo Dapo For Women is an initiative of His Excellency, The Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun MFR. which involves a group of 15 to 25 women engaged in livelihood activity named Okoowo Dapo Women Affinity Groups (ODWAG) who meets weekly to engage in Savings and Loans aimed at transforming their businesses. They will be trained in financial education and business skills. In addition, they will receive grants from the state government to increase their access to finance and invest in their businesses.

Membership is based on self-selection and willingness to abide by the groups’ bye-laws. They run a share-based savings method and cash out every year while retaining the group’ based assets of 10% for sustainability and continuity.

Scope: Implemented in 16 LGAs (except Ijebu North East, Yewa North, Odeda where Nigeria For Women is implemented with the addition of Ikene LGA).

 

OKOOWO DAPO METHODOLOGY

The Okoowo Dapo methodology involves the following; (1.) Community entry Activities: to sensitize community leaders and members and Okoowo Dapo’s For Women innovative programme.

(2.) Training: 3 days TOT Training for ODWGOs, LGA and state team on the following; (1.) Savings methodology, election, development of constitution (2.) Financial education, (income and expenses. budget and savings, saving for an emergency, interest rate) (3.) Business skills (Recordkeeping, cost and pricing and business management) (4.) Group record keeping (5.) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): Kobo Collect

3. Group Dynamics

• Management Committee (chairperson, secretary, treasurer and 2 money counters) • Individual bank accounts for members and group account with the 3 Key Holders as Signatories • Social fund will be used for running costs and mutual Support for emergencies • Grants given will be given to the groups account to increase their loan capacity and ensure sustainability · Members can take loans with 5-10% service charge.

4. GRANT SUPPORT

The Okoowo Dapo will be piloted among 12 WAGs with a sum of 200,0000 naira per group. This will be used as a revolving loan among members of the group.

Slogan: Okoowo Dapo-Igbega Obinrin!!!, Igbega Obinrin...Okoowo Dapooooo!!!

 

ABOUT  The OGUN STATE NIGERIA FOR WOMEN PROJECT

Nigeria For Women Project (NFWP) is a strategic long-term partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and 6 State Governments with support from the World Bank. The 6 implementing states are; Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun and the Taraba States.

This project’s design is the first of its kind to be implemented in Nigeria with a development objective to support the improved livelihood of women in targeted areas of the implementing states by addressing barriers affecting women’s economic prosperity and building social assets for women’s economic participation which is critical for inclusive poverty reduction in Nigeria.

In Ogun State, the project is being implemented in 3 LGAs; Ijebu Northeast, Odeda and Yewa North with each representing the senatorial zones in the state. The state target is to mobilize 54000 women into 3600 groups called Women Affinity Groups (WAGs).

The project implementation is premised on 4 components as follows; ·Component 1: Building Social Capital- This component aims to support the social capital of the women by encouraging them to be members of the WAGs (a self-selected group of 15-25 women) who are to engage in Savings and Credit · Component 2: Livelihood Programs - This component aims to provide to the members of the WAGs through the provision of training on Financial Education and Business Skills. Business Advisory Services (both Individual and Collective) will also be provided to improve their businesses · Component 3: Innovations and Partnerships - This component aims to work with people within the community and country to discover and use new ideas that can transform womens’ businesses and social life · Component 4: Project Management, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning - This component will assist to improve women’s economic standards by advocating and implementing women empowerment policies and creating opportunities for discussing important issues in the community through documented learning.

Ogun State NFWP commenced community implementation in December 2020 by training 30 Ward Facilitators (community-based female facilitators who the formation/strengthening of Women Affinity Groups) in Ijebu Northeast while Yewa.

In North and Odeda LGA communities, implementation commenced in January and February 2021 respectively. The project has recruited and trained 293 Ward Facilitators (WFs) who work in all the 31 wards across the 3 implementing LGAs. The 293 WFs have been trained in Community Operations, Financial Education, Business Skills, Gender and Life Skills, and are currently cascading these training to women in the WAGs.

NFWP as a social investment has impacted participating women’s savings culture. In the space of project implementation, 37305 women have been mobilized into 2241 WAGs with a total financial portfolio of NGN 270,001,890 in which NGN 21, 922,120 was contributed as Social funds (to support themselves during emergencies). Over 15,000 women have accessed loans in their groups and currently, 6593 women are accessing loans to a tune of NGN 96,054,000 to improve their business capital.

WAG members have undergone/undergoing 5 weeks of Financial Education training, 7 weeks of Business Skills training and 11 weeks of Gender and Life-Skills training. These women have been applying this training to their livelihoods and the project has recorded numerous success stories on the positive impact on their businesses. The sign for the project's community sustainability is also high as many groups that have completed their first cycle have commenced their second cycle.

In months to come, the project would be rolling out the collective grants which are driven by a market system approach aimed at building sustainable structures for women to access markets as a collective and scale up their businesses. The collective approach will improve the negotiating power of the women and builds their resilience in coping with market shocks while accessing larger financing due to collective advantage.

The State Government has been providing tremendous support to the project through the release of Counterpart Contribution. Also to ensure sustainability, 90% of the project staff are drawn from the State Civil Service workforce and the State Government has also shown the commitment of taking ownership by the expansion of the remaining 17 LGAs through OKO-OWO DAPO FOR WOMEN. We are...for Women.

 

THE ROLE OF THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AFFAIRS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The Ministry of Women Affairs, Social Welfare and Community Development was created in June 2004 from the defunct Ministry of Industries and Social Development. In 2007, the restructuring of the government agencies led to the removal of the Community Development arm from the Ministry. Thus, the Ministry Of Women Affairs and Social Welfare stood as a full-fledged Ministry till in August 2011 when the Ministry was renamed the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. In the same vein, two (2) new Departments were created in addition to the existing five (5) towards the realization of Social Development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the State then.

 

VISION OF THE MINISTRY

To build a just society devoid of discrimination against women, ensure continuous empowerment and protection of the Rights of Children.

 

MISSION OF THE MINISTRY

To invest in women, men, young and old in a gender-responsive manner through participatory approaches for sustainable development of the state.

 

POLICY THRUST OF THE MINISTRY

To build a sustainable livelihood for women, promote integration for vulnerable ones and discourage gender disparity/ all forms of child abuse.

 

GOAL OF THE MINISTRY

· To promote and pursue programmes towards the attainment of Social Development Goals (SDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

· To promote gender Equality and provide empowerment facilities for Socio-Economic Development · To promote the survival, protection, participation and development of children ·To promote family harmony and reduce juvenile delinquency ·To provide care, support, rehabilitation and empowerment for the vulnerable groups (challenged persons, older persons, destitute and the likes) ·To collaborate and network with Non-Governmental Organizations, Professional Institutions and other MDAs on issues affecting women, children/vulnerable ones.

–Salisu Nurudeen