Happy weekend, WORriors! Ghanian actress, Juliet Ibrahim is our style inspiration on this week’s edition of #OwambeSaturday. Check out pictures of the many times she was absolutely stunning in aso ebi!
On the March 19, 2017, the Cece Yara Foundation officially opened its new, ultramodern state of the art Child Advocacy Centre at No 2A Akin Ogunmade Street Gbagada phase 2.
The event opened with a short press conference, where its Founder/Director Bola Tinubu, Assistant Director Grace Keteve, and Lola Vivour Adeniyi, Coordinator of the Domestic & Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) spoke about the foundation and its achievements thus far.
The press conference and brief address to various dignitaries and guests was followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony headed by the Director of Education Lagos State, Kehinde Azume, representing the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, the wife of the Minister of Works and Power Abimbola Fashola, Senator Oluremi Tinubu ably represented by the Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni, Acting head of service, Adesoye Folasade, and the Director Office of the Public defence Olubukola Rotimi.
The dignitaries, guests, and media personnel were given a tour of the state of art facility, and introduced to the in house team that handles the incoming cases to the centre. Facilities within the centre include:
- A private calming room furnished with toys, games, and other age appropriate furniture where the children can play.
- A forensic interview room is available where the child can make disclosures without the fear of being heard by their parents.
- An observation room where the children in the forensic interview room can be closely monitored and observed by the parents, trained counsellors, police, psychologist and medical experts behind the one way mirrors.
- A medical examination room where preliminary tests can be carried out to verify the claim of abuse.
Built to effectively accommodate children and adolescents, the centre will cater to the physical, mental and psychological, needs of sexually abused children and also helping them and their families through the process of healing and rehabilitation.
The Cece Yara advocacy centre also offers legal advice and support to survivors and their families. Being a first of its kind in Nigeria, the centre provides a warm and child friendly environment where children can speak and express themselves freely in order for them to give as best a description of what transpired to their parents, counsellors and investigators.
The Cece Yara foundation and advocacy centre are a well thought out cause, aimed at especially catering to those in the grass root regions who do not have the ability to seek or get the help they need. The centre caters for the needs of children regardless of the age at which the abuse occurred, and also those who are adults now and were abused as children and are seeking counselling.
“The growing number of child sexual abuse in Nigeria is alarming and that is the reason why the Cece Yara Foundation was established. We assist in the investigative process of cases brought to us and promise complete confidentiality,” Bola Tinubu said.
See photos below:
Bola Tinubu
Bola Tinubu (M), Lola Vivour Adeniyi (R), and Grace Keteve (L)
Lagos Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni and Bola Tinubu
Wife of the former Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, Associate producer; Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Actress; Damilola Adegbite-Attoh and Producer, Peju Fadirepo
A new film to be produced by Maysquare studios and Adesuwa Onyenokwe – publisher of the popular Today’s Woman magazine and the producer of the show Seriously Speaking is set to cause a bubble in the film industry.
Themed around abuse against women, the producers held a significant unveiling event to kick start the process at the Silverbird Galleria in the presence of partners, film enthusiasts and the media.
The film, inspired by true life events, will have prominent actors such as Damilola Adegbite Attoh, Kanayo O. Kanayo and comedian Akpororo. Also starring in the movie for the first time after a very long time will be international on-air personality and television host, IK Osakioduwa and popular radio show host, Yolanda George Adams fondly called Aunt Landa amongst others. The film will be shot in May in Lagos, Abuja and the United Kingdom.
Speaking at the launch, the wife of the former governor of Ekiti State, founder of the African Women’s Development Fund and women’s rights activist, Erelu Bisi Fayemi stressed that the message was timely and that there was no better time for the production of the movie giving her commitment to supporting the project.
Also speaking at the event, the founder of WFM, Toun Okewale shared a real life experience and passionately expressed her support for the project while calling on attendees to also support the film and what it stands for.
The producers of the movie, Peju Fadirepo and Adesuwa Onyenokwe noted that the project was not just a movie but a movement adding that the film will be extremely entertaining and hilarious without losing its salient and timely message.
See photos below!
Group Head, Creative Industry, BoI, Uche Nwuka, Wife of former Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; Associate producer, CHATROOM, Adesuwa Onyenokwe; Actress, Damilola Adegbite-Attoh; Director, CHATROOM, Chike Ibekwe; Producer, CHATROOM, Peju Fadirepo; and Chief Executive Officer, WFM 91.7, Toun Okewale Sonaiya,
Nigeria records the highest incidences of the sickle cell gene and disease globally with 150,000 children born with SCD each year and 100, 000 of them die before they are 5, because of her personal experience with Sickle Cell and her passion to create greater awareness and support for people living with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), Bukola Bolarinwa joined her friend Nkechi Azinge as a partner to run Sickle Cell Aid Foundation (SCAF) , a non-governmental organisation established to raise awareness about sickle cell disease and related health conditions. While Nkechi is the founder of the organisation, Bukola works in the capacity of the President . Because she knows how important blood is to health care delivery system in Nigeria, Bukola founded Haima Health Initiative, to support hospitals who struggle to find blood in a safe and timely way because of the absence ofblood donors. She shares her inspiring story and the work she is doing through HHI in this interview
Growing Up
I think my challenges as a child made me resilient. I always had a passion for human rights growing up and our motto in my Primary school was “thoughts for others”. This stuck with me and influenced my personality today.
Bukola Bolarinwa!
I am a lawyer, Advocate, president of the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation (SCAF) and founder of Haima Health Initiative. I joined SCAF in 2011 at the Nigerian Law School in Bwari where it was set up by my friend Nkechi Azinge. We both had personal experiences with Sickle Cell and wanted an avenue to create greater awareness and support for people living with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Nkechi’s three siblings live with SCD and she knows first hand the emotional, physical, psychological and financial burden it places on families. She started SCAF to support those who do not have the kind of support her family does. I live with SCD and I have also been lucky to have an excellent support system of family and health care providers but I know this is not the case for majority of people in Nigeria. So we work together with an amazing team of staff and volunteers to carry out activities to raise awareness about SCD and aid those living with it.
Being a Lawyer
I have not stopped practicing per se, I definitely always see myself as a lawyer first and I am hoping to go back into it at a later date. For now I dedicate my time to SCAF and Haima because there are a number of projects we are working on which would be impossible to juggle with practising law full time.
Sickle Cell Aid Foundation(SCAF)
The Sickle Cell Aid Foundation is a youth led non-profit, non-governmental organisation established to raise awareness about sickle cell disease and related health conditions. Nigeria records the highest incidence of the sickle cell gene and disease globally with 150,000 children born with SCD each year and 100, 000 of them die before they are 5. This indicates that there is still a lot amiss regarding awareness and delivery of medical care to people who have SCD, especially the young and indigent.
In 2012, SCAF commenced the Know Your Genotype Campaign (KYGC) which involves carrying out free genotype tests, counselling and sensitisation in the F.C.T. We have so far carried out about 10,000 free genotype tests across 5 States in Nigeria and it remains the largest on-going campaign on sickle cell advocacy in Nigeria. Our activities have reached over 15,000 persons across Nigeria. In addition, SCAF runs the Sickle Cell Club Scheme (SCCS) to set up sickle cell clubs in secondary schools where we also carry out free genotype tests. Students found to have SCD were placed on free drugs and their tuition fees paid.
Haima Health Initiative(HHI)
I started Haima Health Initiative because our Sickle cell beneficiaries often need blood transfusions and would ask us to get them donors. Most hospitals does not have blood in stock or they require a replacement for the one they use. We started by calling our friends and families to donate at hospitals and as more people started heard about us, we decided to help as many people as possible get blood. Haima is the Latin word for blood and is the first of its kind in Nigeria. We have an online database which allows people to register as voluntary blood donors that can be called on in emergency situations. We currently have about 500 registered donors across 8 states in Nigeria who have donated over 300 pints of blood free of charge directly to patients. The goal is to increase the number of voluntary blood donors and create a culture of donation devoid of superstition especially amongst young persons.
What Inspires me
I am inspired by so many things and people. I am inspired firstly by my mother who has taught me patience and perseverance during adversity. I am inspired by Nkechi who is extremely focused and innovative at such a young age. But most of all, I am inspired by people living with SCD and other health conditions in Nigeria who face unimaginable obstacles trying to survive. Living in Nigeria is very stressful for able bodied persons, but living with a disease, disability or physical challenge is a hundred times worse. Inspite of these, we are often the most positive, ambitious and vibrant people you will come across!
My projects and Activities
We have recently published our school’s handbook on SCD which is a fun activity book for teenagers. We are working with the Ministry of Education to incorporate it into as many Government secondary schools as possible as an after school sickle cell club. We are doing this because sickle cell education has to start from a young age to ensure every child knows their genotype and to avoid discrimination. We aim to launch the book in June to mark World Sickle Cell Day and invite stakeholders to help fund this project.
In addition we are working to ensure hospitals have better access to blood using the Haima web and mobile service so that donors are constantly available. Nigeria has a young and largely healthy population and it is abysmal that health care providers are constantly short of blood. We hope to gain funding to embark on more marketing to register and inform more young people on the importance of voluntary, regular, non-renumerated blood donation.
Gratitude from Beneficiaries is my greatest reward
It has to be the gratitude of our beneficiaries who have become a community. A lot of Nigerians with conditions like SCD live in isolation and often do not tell even their closest famliy about their struggles because of fear of judgement or ridicule. When they reach out to us, they find comfort in speaking openly about their challenges and being able to assist them in any way I can is incredibly rewarding, In addition, I am receiving a Commonwealth Youth leader award from the Queen of England in June in recognition of my work and the accolade has been quite exciting.
Challenges
Gosh there are so many! Working in the non-profit sector is very challenging in Nigeria because there are always a lot more people in need of help than you can render. Funding is our primary challenge, as like most NGO’s, we run on donations from individuals and organisations. These are usually inconsistent and make it difficult to plan. We always have more projects than funds so we have to prioritise quite aggressively which can be frustrating.
Secondly, ignorance and misinformation are rife in Nigeria regarding SCD as well as most other health conditions. Often times people with SCD and their families have tried all forms of herbal, spiritual and religious interventions to their ailments before coming to us for help and this diminishes the effectiveness of their treatments. Trying to re-educate the public including health care providers on SCD is a constant challenge.
Finally, most Nigerians do not know their genotype or blood group. In fact I would say that 85% of the population have no idea what it is or are unsure. There is no way that an NGO like ours can work to correct this without the Government making SCD a priority. Implementing a new born screening program so that all babies born in hospitals are tested for their genotype during the immunisation programs has to be made a priority by the Government and we will keep advocating for this. It is regrettable that even though Nigeria has the highest rate of SCD and sickle cell trait in the world, it is not a health care priority allowing SCD to keep contributing a huge percentage to under 5 mortality.
I am a woman of rubies
I would say it is my ability to turn challenges into opportunities, not just for myself but for those around me!
Final word
Everyone that knows me knows that I am a card carrying feminist! Men and women are not the same but both sexes can achieve anything they set their minds to with passion and diligence. Unfortunately we still live in a very patriarchal society where a lot of the rules are determined by men, while women are marginalised socially and financially. However there has never been a greater time to be a woman anywhere in the world as things are improving slowly but surely. I would encourage women to always help each other up and not tear each other down, as we have obligations to further each other if we are to get ahead. I am hopeful that the future will open up even greater opportunities for women.
Kindly add any other information you want to publicise.
For more information on SCAF, our activities, how to volunteer and donate, please visit www.scaf.org.ng or follow us on our social media handles @scafnigeria
To register as a blood donor and save a life please visit www.haimahealth.org.ng
Superstar actress and TV personality Damilola Adegbite is reintroducing herself as an “Exercise to Music” instructor as she announces a fitness and wellness initiative for women.
The new initiative is called “Project Alpha Woman” and we love it.
To launch her new project, Damilola has shared some HOT new photos exclusively with BellaNaija showing off her banging body.
Watch Below:
MEET SELLY Raby Kane, the Senegalese fashion designer who has been recruited by Swedish retail giant Ikea for its 2019 flagship collection. Selly, whose work has been featured in Vogue and on the back of Beyoncé will form part of a group of leading fashion designers, architects, and illustrators from across Africa who will come together to produce a historic range.
“The creative explosion which is taking place in several cities around Africa right now is something IKEA is curious about,” said Marcus Engman, Head of Design at IKEA. “We want to learn from this and spread it to the rest of the world.”
ENDORSEMENT: Beyonce Wears Senegalese Designer Selly Raby Kane’s signature Kimono and skirt
The project got off the ground through a chance meeting between Engman and Ravi Naidoo, founder of the creative hub Design Indaba, which holds an annual conference showcasing the best of African design.
The two men discussed an Africa range, and Naidoo supplied a list of talents from the Indaba alumni network, covering a range of disciplines from Rwandan architect Christian Benimana to Selly Raby Kane. The designers were invited to a brainstorming session in the woods of Almhult, Ikea’s headquarters in Sweden.
The first prototypes will be on display at the 22nd Design Indaba conference in Cape Town. The pieces will be in stores worldwide in 2019.
Source: Leadingladiesafrica
A Lagos State High Court in Igbosere has sentenced to death Okwumo Nwabufo and Olisaeloka Ezike who were charged with the murder of a postgraduate student of Nasarawa State University, Cynthia Osokogu.
The deceased was murdered by the convicts on July 22, 2012 at Cosmilla Hotel, Lake View Estate, Festac Town, Lagos.
In a judgment on Thursday, Justice Olabisi Akinlade found Nwabufo and Ezike guilty as charged by the state.
The judge held that the circumstantial evidence brought by the state in proof of the six counts of conspiracy, murder and stealing against the accused persons were cogent, complete, unequivocal and compelling.
A Lagos State High Court in Igbosere has sentenced to death Okwumo Nwabufo and Olisaeloka Ezike who were charged with the murder of a postgraduate student of Nasarawa State University, Cynthia Osokogu.
The deceased was murdered by the convicts on July 22, 2012 at Cosmilla Hotel, Lake View Estate, Festac Town, Lagos.
In a judgment on Thursday, Justice Olabisi Akinlade found Nwabufo and Ezike guilty as charged by the state.
The judge held that the circumstantial evidence brought by the state in proof of the six counts of conspiracy, murder and stealing against the accused persons were cogent, complete, unequivocal and compelling.
A few days ago Bellanaija of entrepreneur Toyin Lawani’s new reality TV show “Tiannah’s Empire” and in the comment section, a reader made a comment implying she (Toyin) chose to become a baby mama instead of being a wife.
The proud mother of two didn’t find this comment amusing as she took to her Instagram to publicly address it saying:
?? People will never stop to amuse me! So I should be ashamed that I have two children from different dads????? Do you think any woman is happy having kids with different men??? So if one fails, you won’t try again???? Too many hypocrites in this gidi, losers needs to stop, hating me only makes me get better at my game, this shit don’t get to me, my PR will send them I will read and laugh my ass off, y’all should quit this fucking hate,I don’t care,i love my kids to the moon,Don’t expect me to come online & be telling you what went on in my relationships, it’s between two people & that’s where it should stay, not online for all you blood suckers, if you need to find out about my relationships or learn how to run various businesses, catch up on @tiannahsempirerealitytvshow✌ if you want your relationship to last in Nigeria, please don’t show any sign of it online,they will keep looking for a fault, ur matter won’t rest.
They don’t feed u & your kids, they just sit and judge your life allday, overlooking the impact you are making on various lives, and society. No one is perfect & you have flaws too.Do u think it’s easy for a single mom to raise two kids with International standards alone?? Can you feed 60mouths in a day??
You should throw the 1st stone if you don’t sin. Some people just know how to hide theirs better, i’m me, I don’t hide shit, love me or hate me, i’m still gonna wake up and hustle for my kids & if God wants me to have another baby again before my final surgery, I will do so again with no regrets and you lots can help me count the 3rd baby again, wahala igo lonpa ala’icewater,Go and focus on your own life and problems and leave me and my kids alone, this is why loads of stars don’t put their kids out there, but I’m not going to cover up my kids’ various talents, just because society got something to say, love me or hate me, I’m Still here & will keep working hard to reach my goals, it’s all a dream until you make it happen, joblessness makes people hate, if you are looking for a job, i’m hiring, atleast i give employments and better this country, but you sit behind a toy & waste your data on writing shit about people you can’t level with ?s
See the comment below
Toyin Igbafen is a Soul singer and writer, and also an entrepreneur with interest in women fashion and catering. She has a BSc in Computer Science from Lead City University but decided to opt for music because it has always been her first love.
Childhood
I would say my childhood did prepare me, not like I knew, but the fact that my parents loved music a lot, My dad had all kinds of records from different artists and my mum sings and write songs. So yes growing up with so much music helped shape me into what I do now.
Meet Me
My name is Wisdom Toyin Igbafen, the first of 3 siblings, I studied computer science at Lead City Universty Ibadan. I’m an alternative soul singer/writer with very clear message. I released my first single ‘Beautiful’ in Dec 2015, then followed it up with ‘Mr John’ featuring Johnnydrille in August 2016 and then ‘MOVE’ a collaborative effort with Terry the Beat Prince.
I’m also an entrepreneur with interest in women fashion and catering.
Why I opted for music
Music had always been my first love, music comes to me naturally, so I would say Music choose me.
Inspiration
Like I said earlier, it had always been music, I would sing at every available opportunity and memorize every song I heard. But I was inspired to go into music professionally after I realized it’s the only thing that gets me extremely excited.
Other projects and activities
I’m an entrepreneur with interest in fashion and catering. I have a TV show coming up, that helps discover fresh talents and give them a platform to express themselves. I also have my concert coming up in June and an Extended Play (EP) coming out also in June.
Greatest reward
Personally my greatest reward has been the messages I receive from people about our my music had helped them in difficult times, help to inspire them and serve as a model for female singers to aspire to be the best in whatever genre of music they do.
Where I see myself in five years time
The international Stage. In five years I see myself with a global audience.
Nigerian female artistes I want to collaborate with
There are quite a couple of them, hmm Sinach, Ada, Jadiel, Asa, Shalom, Cill, etc.
On whether Nigerians appreciate female christian musicians enough
I feel they Nigerians love female Christian musicians, look at the likes of Sinach, Chioma Jesus, Jadiel, Ada Nathan, Shallom, Pastor Mercy…they are absolutely loved by Nigerians, so I would say they are appreciated a lot.
I Am A Woman Of Rubies
I’m bold, I stand for change, I am comfortable in my skin, I’m unique, I’m an entrepreneur and I know I am a Woman Of Rubies.
Final words for women all over the world
I will say, believe in yourself and your abilities, be bold, stand for change and never let anyone make you think you can’t be successful as a woman
Hello WORriors! Today is #ThrowBackThursday and we are throwing back these old photos of actress, Annie Idibia!
