The Nigerian government has been urged to support grassroots agricultural development to boost harvests and enhance food security for citizens. Hajia Saadatu Adamu Bokane, National Coordinator of the New Dawn for Women and Community Intervention Initiative (NEWOMCII), a non-governmental organization focused on women and youth empowerment, made the call during a courtesy visit to The Guardian.
Bokane, accompanied by National Secretary Mrs. Chinwe Osuji, emphasized that the country's economy could improve if efforts are redirected toward empowering women in agriculture, art, craft, and creativity. She also highlighted the organization's National Launch and Book Unveiling programme scheduled for April 28, noting that NEWOMCII was motivated by the visible gap between rural women's potential and the lack of opportunities, limited access to resources, and poor information base to realize that potential.
Founded months ago by Alhaji Bolaji Raji, NEWOMCII is rapidly becoming a household name through its empowerment and social interventions in the Federal Capital Territory, which was chosen for its pilot project. Bokane revealed that Raji, the founder and chairman, had previously engaged in charity work, privately supporting less-privileged Nigerians. NEWOMCII was registered to expand his scope of interventions nationwide through partnerships and support.
“Raji grew up among female relatives, so he acknowledges the role of women in society and felt the NGO should be women-oriented because women are result-oriented,” Bokane said.
Currently, NEWOMCII focuses on agriculture, art, craft, and creativity as major thematic areas due to their neglected status. “We felt that the art and culture sector has been neglected over the years. The contributions of women in art, craft, and the creative industry have been silent for too long. Nigeria as a nation should diversify into art, craft, and creativity. There are lots of funds lying idle at UNESCO for cultural promotion, and Nigeria is one of the countries contributing to UNESCO. Yet, we seem to lack ideas on what to tap into. Before white-collar jobs emerged, rural dwellers were sustained by indigenous arts and crafts,” Bokane explained.
She expressed concern that rural women contribute immensely through arts and crafts to the national economy without recognition, yet they lack access to facilities for mass production, finishing, promotion, and marketing to achieve financial self-reliance. “So, we felt we should reach these categories of people in our society. If you go back into history, women were the ones who discovered agriculture.”
In the two focus areas, NEWOMCII has touched about five Area Councils in the FCT. “We started the pilot projects in FCT because we believe it is the heartbeat of the nation. One of our intervention projects was held in Bwari Area Council, where women were supported with equipment for harvesting,” Bokane added.
