The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has hailed women for their invaluable contributions to the society, saying that “as pillars of our homes and considering their roles in our society, they are worthy to be celebrated.”

The Minister, in his goodwill message on this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD 2025), expressed appreciation to women, especially those in the FCT, for what he described as their unique roles.

Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, ere Olayinka, said in a statement in Milan, Italy, that “Under Wike, as the FCT Minister, women will always get their deserved recognition and positioning.”

He stressed that women are custodian of men and children, noting that their roles in the management and sustenance of the family institution, which is the basic unit in any society, are forever appreciated.

While specially appreciating women in the FCT, Wike urged that they continue to support the government, promising more dividends of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

He said; “To our women in the FCT, starting from the Minister of State for FCT, Dr. Mahmoud Mariya, and the first female Head of Service, Grace Adayilo, today gives us the opportunity to say we are grateful for the impact you make.

“For us, we will keep doing our best to make life more meaningful, especially for the women who are undoubtedly, the pillars of our homes.”

General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has narrated how his earthly journey almost seven years ago.

Speaking at the annual Special Holy Ghost Service, themed “Joy Unspeakable,” Adeboye shared the experience to express gratitude for God’s benevolence towards him and the ministry.

Adeboye recounted how he fell critically ill during one of the church’s annual “Let’s-Go-A-Fishing” evangelism programmes.

“Seven years ago, during this same programme, my body broke down completely due to the terrible road conditions. For the first time in my life, I spent Christmas Day in bed. The devil was certain he had finally got me. I collapsed in Ilesha, and to bring me back to the camp, we had to charter a helicopter. I was too weak to travel by road—if I had, I would not have made it.

“However, just as I was about to be airlifted, local miscreants attempted to prevent the helicopter from taking off.

“They clung to the helicopter, and in the process, one of the windows got torn. But by God’s grace, I managed to reach the camp. I had an assurance that if only I could get to the camp, I would recover. Seven years later, I am still here! I want you to thank God for sparing my life. Please, praise Him for me—give Him glory, honor, and adoration!”

[DailyTrust]

Nigerian actor and content creator Yemi Elesho has opened up about his relationship with Grammy-winning singer Asake.

In a recent interview with streamer Jigan, Elesho revealed that his relationship with the singer dates back to their undergraduate days at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

He stated that he has a long working relationship with Asake, noting that he used to give him a plate of rice and a bottle of Coca-Cola as performance fees for featuring in his movies and skits on campus.

“I used to give Asake a ₦700 plate of rice and a bottle of Coca-Cola as performance fees for him to feature in movies during our undergraduate days at OAU,” he recalled.

“He is my day-one, my very good friend. I have pictures and videos of our time together at OAU. We used to play celebrity football matches together back in the day.”

[DailyPost]

Navigating the business landscape in the UK as a Nigerian can be challenging but it also presents unique opportunities for those with the right strategy. From tapping into the growing demand for African cuisine to offering specialized consulting services.

Here are five clever business ideas that Nigerians abroad can explore to thrive in a competitive market:

1. Start An African foodstuff business 

The demand for African cuisine is steadily growing in the UK, especially among the Nigerian diaspora and other communities interested in African flavors. Starting an African foodstuff business involves importing and selling staple items like yams, plantains, palm oil, dried fish, and spices. With strategic sourcing, quality products, and effective marketing—especially through social media and community networks—this business can thrive by catering to both the nostalgia of Nigerians abroad and the curiosity of food enthusiasts eager to explore African cuisine.

2. Create a Nigerian restaurant

Launching a Nigerian restaurant in the UK offers an excellent opportunity to introduce authentic Nigerian flavors to a diverse audience. With a menu featuring classics like jollof rice, egusi soup, pounded yam, and suya, the restaurant can attract both the Nigerian diaspora and adventurous food lovers. By focusing on authentic recipes, quality ingredients, and a vibrant atmosphere that reflects Nigerian culture, this venture can stand out in a competitive market while celebrating the rich culinary heritage of Nigeria.

3. Offer research/student support services

Providing specialised academic assistance can be a highly rewarding business. By leveraging your expertise, you can offer personalized tutoring, research guidance, editing, and mentorship services tailored to Nigerian students and others navigating the UK education system. This venture not only helps bridge academic gaps but also builds a trusted platform for students seeking to excel in their studies.

4. Open a daycare centre

Establishing a daycare centre can be a fulfilling venture for Nigerians in the UK, tapping into the growing need for quality childcare services. By offering a safe, nurturing environment enriched with both local and Nigerian cultural elements, this business can cater to busy families seeking reliable and culturally aware care for their children.

5. Start a drop servicing fashion outlet

This business model lets you capitalize on the dynamic fashion scene without the need for heavy inventory investments. As a middleman, you curate a range of fashion services—such as custom design, tailoring, and styling—by partnering with skilled providers. By focusing on quality control, effective digital marketing, and a seamless customer experience, you can blend Nigerian-inspired aesthetics with modern UK trends to attract a niche clientele looking for unique, personalized fashion solutions.

Personnel of the Nigerian Navy attached to Forward Operating Base Escravos on Friday night raided the Oteghele community at Obodo Omadinho, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, leading to the discovery and deactivation of two illegal refining sites.

The Commanding Officer of FOB Escravos, Navy Captain Ikenna Okoloagu, who led the operation told journalists that “the sites were laden with about 5,500 litres of stolen crude oil and 2,000 litres of illegally refined AGO contained in one oven, nine dug out pits and 28 polythene sacks.”

“The successful operation, which was in support of the ongoing Operation Delta Sanity II, was based on credible intelligence,” the Commanding Officer stated.

He continued, “The sustained fight against crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and other acts of economic sabotage supports efforts to boost Nigeria’s daily crude oil production quantity.

“The operation further highlights the commitment of Forward Operating Base Escravos to achieve the dictates of the Strategic Directives of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral EI Ogalla Admiralty Medal, to root out all forms of illegalities within the maritime environment.”

Only two weeks ago, operatives of the FOB Escravos discovered and deactivated three illegal refining sites at Obodo in the Omadinho community, Warri South West LGA.

The sites were laden with about 3,700 litres of stolen crude oil and 2,600 litres of illegally refined AGO, contained in five ovens, 12 dug-out pits and 33 polythene sacks.

Meanwhile, the Commanding Officer of FOB Escravos, Navy Captain Ikenna Okoloagu, has reiterated his call on would-be economic saboteurs in the oil sector to desist from illegal acts, stressing that “the Navy Base would stop at nothing to deny them freedom of action and ensure that they are brought to justice.”

[Punch]

The politics of who gets a seat or where you sit is as old as politics itself. From the wars that have been fought on who sits on the throne to our traditions on who gets a seat in the “inner council”, is simply a tale as old as time. In every level of society, where you sit is not only significant but symbolic for representation, voice and presence. One of the biggest and successful bus boycotts in the history of the Civil Rights movement that challenged and led to the end of Segregation laws in the city of Alabama in the United States of America began with a seat. A soft-spoken woman, Rosa Parks, who was just tired and wanted to sit and rest while riding the bus, refused to give up a seat because of a segregation law.

The success and power of the Montgomery bus boycott, which changed a status quo which is referenced today, all started with a seat. It is therefore not surprising that in 2025 in Nigeria, the agitation of distinguished Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over her seat allocation in the senate has brought back attention to important conversations ranging from a political system that excludes women and silences women to a bigger conversation on sexual harassment.

Can a senator be sexually harassed or abused by a fellow senator? Yes. Is an allegation of sexual harassment in the national assembly new? No. Anyone who thinks otherwise obviously exists on another planet and is complicit in abuse. Sexual abuse and sexual harassment are both gendered and power-based and are constantly wielded as a weapon to silence, exclude and undermine women in politics and different spheres of life. For clarity, sexual harassment is a form of gender-based violence, and it can manifest in different forms.

Sexual harassment can be as subtle as making unwelcome sexual and physical advances or sexual innuendos/comments to a woman, which others may find amusing, except the recipient of the comments. It ranges from sharing unwanted nudes and pornography to extending unwanted invitations that indicate ulterior motives, whispering lewd jokes and invading the intimate private space of a woman. It is also as embarrassing as improper comments about a woman’s looks, body or dress and the unwanted touching of bodily parts of a woman.

While both men and women are victims of sexual harassment, women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment because it is power-based and enabled by persisting gender inequality. As noted by the World Bank, “Gender-based violence is one of the most oppressive forms of gender inequality, posing a fundamental barrier to the equal participation for women and men in social, economic and political spheres.”

In addressing gender-based violence, a serious institution, people and country will; 1) respect the complaint of the person who experienced the harassment 2) provide a safe space for report, 3) investigate the report as a pathway to justice 4) ensure the accused is not the judge in the case in line with the principles of natural justice and, 5) punish perpetrators. This should be the major approach to allegations of sexual harassment at all levels.

For a senate created by the constitution and bound by its safeguards for fundamental human rights, playing politics and technicalities with a petition on sexual harassment disregards the constitution. Now the misconceptions; that a man loves his wife, daughter, and sisters does not mean he cannot be an abuser or harasser.

It’s just like saying that a thief won’t rob you because he has a brother or sister like you. That other women did not speak up does not mean that one who speaks up is lying; we all have different levels of courage. Lastly, historically, women in politics who face abuse do not speak up to avoid losing political capital or being victimised. The silence and acceptance of bad behaviour as a norm in politics has enabled impunity and bold abusers using their power to silence the few who dare to speak.

Nigeria, let us talk about the politics of exclusion and victimisation.

Nigeria’s journey to democracy was a hard-fought battle that was sustained by the resilience and unwavering spirit of men and women who believed in freedom and democracy. The transition to democracy in 1999 brought new hope to a nation that had been battered by men in uniform and had been silenced for too long. The ballot signified the power of the people to choose their leaders and the birth of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy. Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, with its imperfections, perfectly enunciates Nigeria as a country to be governed on the principles of freedom, equality and justice. Section 14 of the Constitution establishes Nigeria as a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice.

However, in the almost 26 years of democracy, Nigeria has been consistently and conspicuously deprived of the benefits of representation of women in government at all levels, violating a basic principle of democracy. Women’s representation is a democratic rights issue because the exclusion of women is silencing women’s voices in political decisions. This prolonged exclusion has created a political ecosystem where sexual abuse and harassment of women have persisted, been excused, condoned and most times treated with levity.

Nigeria is still one of the poor-performing countries when it comes to political empowerment. The 2024 Gender Gap report of the World Economic Forum ranked Nigeria 136 of the 146 countries surveyed when it comes to closing the gender gap in political empowerment. With only 17 female legislators of the 360 legislators in the house of representatives and 4 female senators of the 109 senators elected in 2023, it is an injustice to treat allegations of sexual harassment with levity. Women in Nigeria are fighting both systemic exclusion and cultural and religious bias against female leadership. Nigeria cannot afford to ignore the call for safe spaces for women in both elective and appointive offices.

This is particularly important with the emergence of younger women in politics who are informed, aware of their rights and not limited by the fears of the oppressive hands of patriarchy. The national assembly is a place for the serious business of representation, law-making and oversight that requires competence, vibrancy, innovation, and experience. None of these are mutually exclusive, which is why we cannot tolerate the abuse of power and/or sexual harassment being used against existing and emerging leaders in the national assembly.

With the evolution of labour law, more companies, institutions, and places of work are introducing safeguarding policies. Nigeria’s national assembly and all government institutions, as a matter of urgency, need a safeguarding policy that properly provides a framework for the prevention of and protection from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

The national assembly remains the hub of our democracy, and protecting legislators, staff and citizens who work and interact with the Institution from abuse, harassment and exploitation should be at the core of the assembly. In March, which is dedicated to recommitting the world to efforts geared at promoting the rights of women and girls, the Nigerian senate has an opportunity to show Nigerian women that they do not hate women.

Cynthia Mbamalu is a human and gender rights advocate and the director of programmes at Yiaga Africa

The 2024 report, the 18th edition of the Global Gender Gap Index, benchmarked gender parity across 146 economies, providing a basis for the analysis of gender parity developments across two-thirds of the world’s economies. As an African, I was super delighted to see Namibia at number eight and South Africa at number 18. Two African countries, one in the global top 10 and another in the global top 20! This is something to celebrate and a call to understudy why they ranked so high. Other African countries that featured in the top 50 are Rwanda at  number 39, Liberia at number 42 and Eswatini at number 47.

Happy International Women’s Day 2025 to all readers! March 8th, the globally designated International Women’s Day (IWD), a holiday celebrated annually to focus on issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, violence and abuse against women is here again. The 2025 theme is “Accelerate Action” and highlights the urgent need to drive gender equality through bold, decisive actions, rather than slow progress. Thus, my motivation for writing this article, with performance improvement and transformation thinking.

Introduction

I am a female leader with personal identity and orientation of a global citizen, proudly African of Nigerian extraction, and firm belief in the wholesome value of humanity, in general, for development and societal sustainability, based on goodwill and purpose. As such, this article will highlight the context within which the IWD emerged, some emerging empirical data, and proffer some suggestions for consideration, based on continental practice benchmarks. I also believe in collective action – at the individual, family unit, institutional, national and continental levels. This because from where I sit as an international consultant, who has had the privilege of participating in two of the African Peer Review Mechanism’s (APRM) Country Review Missions (CRMs) of two countries in Africa’s Southern region and function as the CEO of the Africa Private Sector Summit with other continental exposures, there are commendable practices to glean from, for systemic continental improvement. Therefore, like Fareed Zakaria of CNN’s Global Public Square (GPS) magazine programme would say, ‘Lets get started’!

Contextual Background

In announcing the theme for IWD2025, internationalwomensday.com asked us to all imagine a gender equal world; a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination; a world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive; a world where difference is valued and celebrated. It therefore calls for gender equality and collectively #AccelerateAction. Then the big question – Is this possible in Africa, as we progress in our aspirations for the Africa we want (Agenda2063)?  History has it that IWD has been around for over a hundred years, as have many of the issues globally still impacting women’s advancement. We may recall that Vladimir Lenin declared 8 March as IWD in 1922 to honour the women’s role in 1917 Russian Revolution; it was subsequently celebrated on that date by the socialist movement and communist countries. The IWD holiday became a mainstream global holiday, following its promotion by the United Nations in 1977.

Another important milestone on the subject of this article to consider, is the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, which flagged 12 key areas where urgent action was needed to ensure greater equality and opportunities for women and men, girls and boys. It also laid out concrete ways for countries to bring about change. The Beijing conference built on political agreements reached at three previous global conferences on women, and consolidated five decades of legal advances aimed at securing the equality of women with men in law and in practice. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995 was unanimously adopted by 189 countries as an agenda for women’s empowerment that is now considered the key global policy document on gender equality. The big question: Now three decades post-Beijing Conference of 1995, how have African countries progressed on protocols acceded to in 1995?

In preparation for Beijing +30 Status for Africa, the African Union, with support of the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa, facilitated a Beijing +30 Review Ministerial Consultative Expert Group Meeting on 6 November in Addis Ababa, in preparation of the 69^th session of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW) to be held from 10-21 March. The meeting led to a published resolution, which concluded that ‘different measures need to be adopted as implementation accelerators for proposed actions to yield impact at scale. The most important are stakeholders’ commitments, strengthening grassroots women and girls movements, the existence of strong institutions, and particularly Africa’s ownership of the implementation process by putting in place all necessary measures, including financing these actions with Africa’s own resources’.

In terms of global benchmarks, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) annually benchmarks the state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. Since launching in 2006, it is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous economies’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time. The 2024 report, the 18th edition of the Global Gender Gap Index, benchmarked gender parity across 146 economies, providing a basis for the analysis of gender parity developments across two-thirds of the world’s economies. As an African, I was super delighted to see Namibia at number eight and South Africa at number 18. Two African countries, one in the global top 10 and another in the global top 20! This is something to celebrate and a call to understudy why they ranked so high. Other African countries that featured in the top 50 are Rwanda at  number 39, Liberia at number 42 and Eswatini at number 47.

Call for Action

As we mark this year’s IWD with the theme ‘Accelerated Action’, I reflect on the outcome of Namibia and South Africa’s GGPI ranking and feel obliged to advise the following for performance improvement for accelerated action:

On jurisdictional/national levels: Namibia’s Zebra Principle works and may have greatly impacted its global top 10 ranking as number eight. South Africa’s approach to near universal adoption of the King IV Governance code, which promotes corporate altruism and responsible citizenship across the private, public and social sectors, and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), are worthy of understudy and possible domestication in other jurisdiction, with Rwanda, Liberia and Eswatini sharing their principles and practices as well.

On an institutional level: adoption of any combination of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that align with institutional brand values as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) be considered. Ensuring inclusive gender practices in labour practices, with consideration of gender life cycle stages for societal sustainability and possibility of non-punitive career breaks and remote work have long term brand loyalty in employees and service providers across gender.

On individual levels within families and communities: misogynistic resistance to women empowerment is real in some cultures in Africa and around the world, especially male dominated and paternalistic societies need to educate societies on the right of all persons, irrespective of gender, age or social standing to liberty to pursue life aspirations and contribute to society.

Conclusion

The African woman is an amazing reservoir of resources. Therefore, she needs nurturing through life cycle stages – as a girl child; as an undergraduate young woman; as a professional or entrepreneur; as a mother nurturing future generations, through her reproductive years as a wife and mother with growing and dependent children; as a mature professional who wants to contribute her experiences; and as a retired grandmother and great-grandmother or matriarch with responsibility for passing the baton of family cross generational dignity, honour and purpose.

There is so much gender parity can bring to our development agenda, as a people. So, let’s accelerate action! No more talking!