INTERVIEW: Women want equity… equality comes from God, says Buhari’s aide

TheCable’s REMI SULOLA speaks with Mairo Al-Makura, special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), on issues affecting Nigerian women such as harmful cultural practices, economic inequality, misogynistic laws, and political exclusion.

TheCable: History has shown that significant members of the society — when it comes to providing a lifeline for the economy — are women. What do you think can be done to ensure that the next generation of young girls in Nigeria are educated and able to fend for themselves?

Al-Makura: I must tell you, this too has come to pass because most of the girls, females I have met, are so enterprising. They go out of their way; they don’t want to depend on their husbands. They do petty trade — both the educated ones and the ones that are not. They go all out to fend for themselves and bring up the family.

For example, when my daughter graduated as a lawyer, she decided to venture into something else; that she wants to be on her own. And she’s an employer of labour right now. So, most these girls are trying their best on their own.

TheCable: How can gender-based violence be adequately tackled?

Al-Makura: For me, I think right from the home before you even get married. We, as parents, should try to inculcate that in our children. There shouldn’t be a preference between a boy child or girl child. We parents should show them love at home and the moment they start doing that, and they notice it, I think it will go a long way in reducing violence at home by 50 percent — and even at school.

TheCable: How can governments at all levels make menstrual hygiene management for young girls more sanitary?

Al-Makura: Like we all know, the female cycle happens every month to every girl child. I remember when I was the first lady in Nasarawa state, we had issues like that and I tried to get some sanitary wares because the toilets are not even clean; some don’t even have toilets. They go to the bush which is very risky — snakes, kidnappers, and so many scary things. The toilets are sometimes not there at all. So, we went round the schools with sanitary pads because that is another problem; they don’t even have it; they can’t afford it. It had little effect because of obvious financial constraints. I tried to contact P&G for a possible collaboration, but somehow we couldn’t get to finalise before I left office.

Toilets are pretty important in schools for both boys and girls. At this time of the month, the girls don’t want to go to school because they are shy or they feel they don’t have to go to school for four or five days, because there are either no pads or no convenient places to change them. I feel we should try and see if we can provide toilets for the female students and ensure the toilets are kept clean, because most of these toilets are pit toilets.

TheCable: What do women really want, equity or equality?

Al-Makura: Equity! We cannot be equal with men. That’s from God. We are not equal. God has given them that leverage over the women. We want equity, where women will be given a chance and space to operate freely without being antagonised. That’s what I believe. My own school of thought is we can never be equal with men, because this is how God created us. What I am advocating for is, just let’s have our space to operate freely and peacefully — no antagonising or nothing.

If we want to be equal with men, what a man does and gets punished for severely, if a woman should do same, she should get same treatment. There are so many things that come up with this.

TheCable: Why does it seem that women are not interested in politics/governance?

Al-Makura: Not that we are not interested. We are very interested. It is because we are not given the chance. The atmosphere is so tense that we cannot be able to. That is where I am coming from. We will not be able to strive in that kind of environment. And the men should not think we are coming to oppress them or take over from them. We are just partners in progress. They should see us as partners; not as equals. Once you give a woman a chance at a job, she does it very well and even better. So, the men don’t want to us give us that space. They don’t want to give us that space and chance at all. They think the political arena is just for them; that the women should be at home and that’s where they want us to be.

TheCable: Has the Buhari administration done enough to ensure that women are actively participating in politics/governance?

Al-Makura: We are yet to get there. They have done a little, but we are far from getting what we want or what’s supposed to be ours. We are far from there.

TheCable: What can be done to ensure that girls and boys are treated equally in the family?

Al-Makura: I think people have now realised that the girl child also needs to be empowered and needs to get educated. This used to happen mostly in the eastern part of the country, where they thought the male child is more important than the girl child. But now, they are getting enlightened and exposed. They see what the female folks are doing, so I think we have passed that stage now in the 21st century.

TheCable: What’s the vision of the African first ladies in ensuring that women can compete with men in every facet of life?

Al-Makura: Our mission is to bring about peace, harmony in the African region, and to portray women who are capable, reliable, and competent to be in places of position, either political or elective. This, we are doing through advocacy, because we have to let the men see reason why we should be involved in what they are doing. The backlash is on the women. We are advocating for their understanding to carry us along. That’s all we do in AFLPM. Where there’s any uprising, they go there to assist.

TheCable: How can workplace equality be achieved?

Al-Makura: This can only be tackled by the national assembly, where laws should be enacted and must be implemented. If that’s done, there will be no problem. If we keep talking about advocacy and it doesn’t go anywhere, laws have to be enacted. Not just for laws to be enacted like I said earlier, it must be fully implemented too. If that’s done, there will be no problem. So, the national assembly should help us with that.