52 YEARS OF NIGERIA’S INDEPENDENCE; HOW HEALTHY ARE WE? By Priscilla Ikos Usiobaifo

Honourable Chairman,

The leader of the Legislative and Hon. members of Akoko Edo Legislative Council,

Royal Fathers here present,

All other protocols duely observed.

My name is Priscilla Usiobaifo. I work with the BraveHeart Initiative for Youth & Women. I welcome you all to the commemoration of Nigeria’s 52nd Independence. 

I initiated the BraveHeart Initiative (BHI) at age 18 when I came to a cross road on the numerous challenges faced by young people. I needed a change and I was tired of waiting for the empty promises made by the older generation. Over the years BraveHeart Initiative have executed projects on various issues ranging from sensitization on Sexually Transmitted Infections such as Hiv/Aids, Gender based violence, Sexual abuse, maternal mortality, International, regional and national agreements, Skills trainings for economic empowerment, capacity building workshops amongst others.

In October 2009, BHI registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission as a youth led, youth focused community based NGO empowering and developing young people between the ages of 10 and 25 years through information and skills training to make informed choices, grow into self actualized adults capable of contributing towards a better society. Overall Goal of BraveHeart Initiative: To improve knowledge and understanding of sexual and reproductive rights among young people in Akoko Edo as a means of achieving gender equality

Objectives:

1.      To improve knowledge and understanding of sexual and reproductive rights among young people in Akoko Edo as a means of reducing teenage pregnancies by 20% in 5 years

2.      To promote community awareness on the rights of young people in order to reduce gender inequality in Akoko Edo.

3.      To facilitate the recovery of abused children, young persons and women from gender based violence.

4.      To partner with likeminded institutions and stakeholders to build the capacity of BHI.

5.      To empower young persons with skills and information to become active participants in development.

6.      To promote the practice of feminist principles among young women in Akoko Edo

Reproductive Health has been defined as: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes”. Sexuality is defined as social expressions of one’s social and biological being through mannerism, mode of dressing, interactions patterns and physical intercourse.

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues such as unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS are important concern for youth arising from many factors including inadequate sexual health information, education and poor access to services. Many adolescents are sexually active but are often “extremely uninformed about their reproductive systems. This ignorance, more often than not, lead them to long term damage of their sexual and reproductive health or even death” (Madunagu, 1998:10)

Nigeria is one of the most youthful countries in Africa. According to recent statistics, Adolescent population makes up 22% of the general population in Nigeria. Approximately 35, 326, 000.

Nigeria’s population is estimated at 158, 423, 000. With about 42% of the population lacking improved drinking water resources, 68% of population without access to improved sanitation facilities and about 1, 700,000 of women (aged 15+) living with HIV.

We are at BraveHeart Initiative take cognizant that harmful traditional practices continue to rob young people of their rights to sexual and reproductive health, with girls and young women especially subject to such norms that expose them to sexual violence, female genital mutilation and child marriages; we also concerned that while our country has adopted several laws and policies to protect young people and provide them with services, such laws and policies are often contradictory, have loop holes and are not domesticated and implemented leading to discrimination and limited access to justice for young people.

Today, as we mark our Independence, I call on government and other related agencies to deliberately allocate funds for sexual and reproductive health programmes in line with regional and global commitments including the Abuja Declaration, the Maputo Programme of Action which calls for a minimum allocation of 15% of the national budget to health. Also to ensure evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education for in-and out of school young people through schools, communities, religious and cultural institutions.

I call on parents, communities, religious and traditional leaders to support young people to access and take up sexual and reproductive health information and services, commodities including HIV testing and counseling, contraceptives, Anti Retroviral Therapy and maternal health care. Prioritize the reform and removal of cultural practices and norms that threaten the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people including Child Rape, gender-based violence and other forms of sexual exploitation.

Thank you for your attention,

Priscilla Ikos Usiobaifo

Program Coordinator,

BraveHeart Initiative

The brains and the bruises: meeting the girls of Malava Girls High School Kakamega

As part of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest, and the Carbon for Water campaign, I am excited to be traveling around the Western Province of Kenya, meeting women and girls who are hard-hit by the issues associated with the Millennium Development Goals. Yesterday, I got the chance to visit the Malava’s Girls High School -- a reaffirmation time that the Millennium Development Goals are so important, especially the goal addressing women and girls’ issues.

Team Vestergaard Frandsen and Women Deliver (consisting of Janna Oberdorf, Elisabeth Wilhelm, Rachel Cernansky and I) visited the Malava Girls High School to demonstrate how to use the LifeStraw Family water filters, a water purification tool that is being distributed to 900,000 Kenyans in the Western Province. The findings about water borne diseases and lack of safe water were very revealing -- teachers told us about how they have to use some form of chemical to purify their water or boil the water for drinking. While some of the girls mentioned that they often went home thirsty and empty-handed after spending a whole day in a very long queue to get tap water (where available). They said they would just let the stream water settle and drink, or their family would use firewood to boil the water thereby adding to carbon emissions in the atmosphere. A few of the girls who shared their experiences with us during questions and answers time, explained how some of them have suffered some form of water borne disease ranging from typhoid fever to diarrhea or having their family members suffer bilharzias.

The female students, who were up to 500 in attendance, believed in healthy living and safe drinking water as a disease free mechanism. The discussion took a turn as the girls began to trust in the team, and they spoke in confidence to each member of the team about prevailing issues affecting them as a girl-child, affecting their family and their development. It was an electrifying moment of revelations and counseling. It was not so long ago that I was in this stage of life too, with issues so germane to me I wish I had trusted and knowledgeable people to share them with. I was glad that I am part of a team with whom these brilliants girls can share their bruises, their concerns and their struggles in an unequal world.

Interacting with us were some of the female students who had to contend with different life issues – from physical and sexual abuse in the home to questions of sexuality and sexual health. Many more girls gathered around us in different groups to recount different stories of their young but bruised life. Beatrice suffers extremely painful menstruation (Dysmenorrheal) and her mother has prevented her from using the oral contraceptive that the doctor prescribed for her without any other alternative, she goes through pains for more than 10 days as long as her bleeding last to the point paralyses! There was little we could do to attend to all the needs of these brilliant girls but to exchange contact with promises to refer them to organizations and individuals within Kenya working on these issues of concern to them.

In less than one hour, discussions had gone around empowerment of girls and their family, provision of safe drinking water, and even though the female students are not having children yet nor are they children themselves, they were able to discuss the challenges around child mortality and maternal health. They also know a lot about the recurring danger of climate change and global warming if no intervention is offered by all of us. Just in one meeting MDGs goal 3- Promote gender equality and empowerment of women , 4- Reduce Child Mortality Rates, 5- Improve maternal health, 6-Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and 7 – Ensure environmental Sustainability were discussed!

We have all started on the right path; supporting each other, educating each other, demanding that quality of our lives are improved and that we have access to basic amenities of life. I had a wonderful time with these incredible girls.

YOUTH INVOLVEMENT IN ADVOCATING FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN NIGERIA

Gender equality, or equality between women and men, refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of and for women and men, girls and boys. Gender equality is not an issue to be treated casually. This is a human rights issue and a precondition for sustainable people centered development.

Equality does not mean that the biological differences between women and men will become the same, but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.The fight for gender equality is not an easy one. It’s not an easy one because the society keeps placing much emphasis on cultural and traditional barriers that have over time cheated women of their fundamental human rights.

The gender differences and relationships are socially constructed and learned through socialization process and in essence have given birth to gender roles over the years. These roles are learned behaviours in a given society, community or in a group, in which people are conditioned to perceive activities, tasks and responsibilities as male or female specific. For instance, women and girls have been given the roles of going to the kitchen, taking care of children, doing all the domestic chores while the men and boys read development books and newspapers, go to work, give money for the upkeep of the family and choose whatever sport to play at their leisure.

Women do not have economic empowerment because, they are meant to get marry and serve their husbands who in quote are the “heads of the family”. The rights to education are often denied women because they are to “end up in the kitchen” while the husbands bring all the money, socialise and make all the connections. This has always have devastating effects on women due to the lack of income for not having means of livelihood. When marriages collapse the women suffer the most. Society has down played the importance of women’s roles in Nation development for so long that it sounds strange to people that women should have equal rights with men. Equal economic participation, equal power sharing and decision making between men and women for example are strange to our society.

Despite the universal declaration of human rights as an instrument of human rights protection, which was adapted by the UN member states on December 19, 1948 to protect the rights of every human being, women’s rights and other issues that are women related and specific are not recognized and protected in practice. Also, the International Bill of Rights (IBOR), which consists of Universal of Human Rights (UDHR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) guarantees many rights and freedoms for all women and men. However, in reality basic rights of the vulnerable members of the society like women and children are still not fully recognized as part of human rights in practice.

Women are vulnerable in the society because they have been made to suffer economic injustice, lack of adequate policy on reproductive health, domestic violence and all other forms of discrimination.

To advocate and protect women’s human rights, instruments such as Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly and came to force in 1981. The instrument is specifically for the protection of Women’s Human Rights. Though ratified in Nigeria since July 13^th 1985, CEDAW is still yet to be domesticated. This in itself has caused a big constraint in the implementation of CEDAW articles in Nigeria.

To be able to further the work already done by the Non-Governmental Organizations working to promote women’s human rights in achieving gender equality in Nigeria, women human rights instruments such as CEDAW needs to gain recognition because it is vital for development, protection and promotion of women’s human rights in Nigeria.

There is an important role for the youth in Nigeria to play in contributing to the achievement of gender equality in all facet of life. Women’s human rights need to become an integral part of every day life. Therefore, it becomes inevitable that the youth involvement approach would give Women’s human rights much needed awareness as the empowered youths are the agents of change and vehicle of continuity.

The youth involvement approach would serve as an awareness creation and advocacy strategy forum for Women’s human rights among Nigerian Youths at tertiary institutions and by so doing impart the larger society. This can be best achieved through the creation of CEDAW clubs in tertiary institutions with the major aims of building a culture of Women’s Human Rights activism and advocacy among Nigerian Youths and also to build gender discrimination-free culture on campus and among Nigerian youths.

 

in conclusion, Youth involvement in promoting and development of Women’s Human Rights in achieving gender equality is very vital and essential. The youth are the leaders of tomorrow and the bedrock of any nation therefore their involvement will further hence awareness creation on Women’s Human Rights issues which will assist in achieving gender equality in Nigeria. If more youth were involved before they become policy makers in the future, they would have been well exposed to women’s human rights issues and this would aid their sensitivity to gender issues and as such gender sensitive policies would be easy for them to make and execute.

This article was submitted byStandtall to Baobab for Women's Human Rights as a requirement for employment seeking in 2005.