Mrs. Daniel, through her organisation which she established a decade ago, championed a peaceful protest in 2014, tagged: ‘Nigeria Women Mourn’ – a movement that created awareness on the atrocities of Boko Haram, particularly the slaughter of 45 boys and abduction of 25 girls in Buni Yadi in Yobe state.
In this interview with CHRISTIANA OKPALA, the dynamic woman who is also a growth and development consultant told The Next Edition how she mobilized the whole world to protest against the killing of 45 boys and the abduction of 25 girls in Buni Yadi in Yobe State and the dangers of domestic violence.
TNE: What is the depth of work at ACTs Generation?
We offer interventions to victims of domestic violence. However, my strength is in building coalitions because l believe our voices will be stronger when we come together – building capacity and relationship management. I use the social media to create awareness because a lot of people are not aware of the support systems available to them, both male and female. We partner with Embassies to give knowledge-based seminars, government agencies and engage policy law makers and executives across geopolitical zones to promote policies towards gender-based elimination. I suddenly became a hub for women issues. All kinds of cases come my way and I direct victims to areas they can seek help for their peculiar issue. Where necessary, I lead peaceful protests for policy issues that affect women and the girl-child; and gender equality acceptance.
This is why when the news of the slaughter of 45 boys and abduction of 25 girls in Buni Yadi, came on February 25, 2014, I mobilised women to go on the streets to ask the government to intervene on March 6, 2014.
The protest, which was tagged; ‘Nigerian Women Mourn,’ took a larger dimension as women from about nine States of the federation and some parts of Europe and America, decided to participate. The protest held at the same time in different parts of the world. We went on the streets and it was widely covered. There was some military moves and this brought hope.
However, we woke up on April 15 and read that on the night of April 14, over 200 girls had been abducted in Chibok the same year. Against this background, I mobilised the women to go on the streets and held an international press conference also. This was done in Abuja and Lagos and it led into a massive move that is going on till today. I tried to get people to plan for the return of the girls. Today, l am happy for what the government has done so far in ensuring that some of the abducted girls were brought back from the Boko Haram camp.
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TNE: With all the awareness and sensitization campaigns on the negative impact of domestic violence, do you think the age long menace has abated?
Awareness and sensitisation are very important. Most times we are very reactionary and not as proactive as we should be. This was why I took the bold step of organising a conference at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, 2014, during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, themed: ‘International Conference Against Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault & Trafficking, 2014.’ We dealt with various issues and a communique was sent to our working partners like the United Nation(UN) Women and Women Affairs & Poverty Alleviation of Lagos State.
Domestic violence affects productivity at work, be it a professional or business woman or man. It has been an uphill task to get corporate organisations to buy into the fact that domestic violence and abuse should receive the same awareness and support that is given to Cancer, HIV, among others, deadly diseases. The effects of domestic violence are worse than cancer because it can span generations. It could wreck great havoc on the family and society. In fact, it is life-threatening and lethal. An abusive person and the abused cannot perform at full potential. Most times they need to be counseled with therapy and I have had to handle quite a few.
TNE: Why did you abandon your lucrative furniture making business for advocacy on women issues?
I ventured into furniture making by accident. That was before I decided to go into gender-based advocacy. It was the period of ban on furniture importation. I had to do some refurnishing on my settees and when it was done, I decided to offer that service to people and my life as an entrepreneur began.
It was not easy and it took dedication, diligence and focus to build up my furniture factory. When I offer advice to entrepreneurs nowadays, I always tell them that success doesn’t come overnight. I am a mentor at the Tony Elumelu Foundation where l empowered youths all over Africa. We were only two women in the furniture industry at that time and my pieces won various awards at exhibitions. I was hands-on because of my skill and it was fun creating artistic pieces from wood and plywood. I liked working with Cedar wood.
However, l delved into advocacy because l love touching people’s life to help them to become better. I feel so fulfilled doing this.