GOVERNOR FAYEMI’S WIFE, BISI UNVEILED
Ekiti State is renowned as the Fountain of Knowledge, and is famous for producing the highest number of professors in the country, moreso, it is apparently endowed with scholars in various fields of endeavour. So, it was not a surprise, when the incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi, a PhD holder was announced as the duly elected governor of the state few months back.
Nevertheless, only few Nigerians are aware that the new First Lady of the state, Mrs. Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a blessing in disguise to the South-West state.
The lady is an embodiment of knowledge, a scholar, a successful and highly educated woman, an activist and defender of the cause of women as well as a widely traveled fellow with influences all around the world. She takes the issue of women as paramount and has spent a lot of her resources fighting their cause through a foundation.
Those who know much about the likable woman said that she contributed much to the accomplishment of her husband and that her experience in developmental matters will be an added advantage to Governor Fayemi for the next four years.
Sources revealed that Bisi is one woman, who will not sit in the comfort of her home or office and put up a kind of showmanship without backing it up with performance.
According to them, Bisi’s antecedents are intimidating and she will not shirk her responsibility of making the best use of her good office to better the lots of the people of the state, which has allegedly suffered neglect in the hands of past governments.
Bisi believes that the womenfolk are the most vulnerable to poverty, disease and depravation and she has thus been working towards emancipating them.
“Across the continent, issues around diseases, especially HIV/AIDS still remain the burden of women. They are the most affected and the most infected. And women also shoulder the burden of care. Also, an issue such as violence against women and girls that you find in almost every African country is more prevalent in some than others. However, everywhere we have visited, we have seen groups of women who have organized and mobilized to bring about a change in that. And that is where the African Network Group comes in. It supports the women in those countries, either at community or policy level, to enable then change the situation around,” she said.
As the wife of the Ekiti State Governor, the richly endowed woman believes she would be engaged in two broad areas. She maintained that one of the critical pillars of her husband’s eight-point agenda is women and gender equality, “So, I will like to be able to support the government of Governor Fayemi in terms of how to keep those promises that have been made to the women of Ekiti State. That itself is in regards to the quality framework and the enabling environment to ensure that all the critical points or the strategies within the eight-point agenda are implemented to benefit the women of the state,” she explained.
She revealed that one of the challenges faced by her foundation was to be able to build credibility and trust with various stakeholders, who had invested in the project. The second challenge, she said, was the issue of infrastructure that ‘we were dealing with in the African continent. It can be challenging for an organization like ours that has an African wide reach and that supports organizations from different countries,’ she stated.
Bisi is a co-founder of African Women Development Fund (AWDF), a fundraising and grant-making organization, and she is the President of the Association of Women’s Right in Development (AWID).
She is Nigerian/British and was previously the Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international development organisation for African women based in the UK, with an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda. She has a BA and M.A in History from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and an M.A. in Gender Studies from Middlesex University, UK. She has experience as a journalist, writer, lecturer, trainer, and as an organisational development specialist. She has expertise in fundraising and organisational development, and training expertise in feminist leadership development and resource mobilisation. She conceptualised the African Women's Leadership Institute and the accompanying Regional Leadership Development Center. These two AMwA projects have helped train over 800 women leaders in Africa.
Her voluntary experience and affiliations include: Founder member and board member, Black and Migrant Women in Europe Network (1991-present), Vice Chair, National Alliance of Women's Organisations, England and Wales (1992-94), UK Representative, Steering Group, Women in Development Europe (1994-97), Management Committee Member, National Women's Network for International Solidarity (1993-96), Steering Group Member, National Beijing 1995 Forum, UK (1944-96), Member, Department for International Development, Development Awareness Expert Working Group (1998-1999), International Adviser, Global Fund for Women (2000), International Adviser, Center for Women's Global Leadership (1995-present), Member, Board of Trustees, Comic Relief , UK (1998-2001), and President-Elect, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) (2004-2006)
She has written and published several articles on feminist leadership, popular culture and women's human rights. She has participated in numerous conferences, seminars, workshops and training programs as a speaker, facilitator, co-convener, trainer and resource person in various parts of Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the United States. She was appointed the Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Visitor in Women and Development and Community Transformation for the academic year 2000/01, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada. She is currently a Senior Fellow of the Synergos Institute, New York