Celebrating An Icon At 60
Apart from identifying with women intermittently and mobilizing them towards preconceived agenda at critical moments, no first lady at the national or state level has before now replicated the resilient passion and commitment toward uplifting the living standard of the womenfolk like the late iconic Mrs. Maryam Babangida.
Besides adding glamour and flavour to the hitherto obscure Office of the First Lady, the late Mrs. Babangida tactically exploited the prowess of the female gender within the ambient of power in attracting government attention to the plight of the womenfolk across the country then.
The famous Better Life for Rural Women conceived by the Late wife of the former military president still ranks as one of the best government bold initiatives targeted at addressing the peculiar plight of the downtrodden women stressing out in the hitherland to eke out a living.
The Better Life for Rural Women unarguably form the nucleus for women's emancipation struggles and gave impetus for clarion calls for mainstreaming the needs of women and the girl child in government policies and programme s formulation with a view of tackling the various religious and traditional barriers hindering women and girls from optimizing their full potentials.
However, in Cross River state, a First Lady with the trappings, unwavering commitment, and burning zeal in altering the disheartening narrative of the female gender has emerged to take up the gauntlet.
Unlike the past scenarios where the women were only galvanized to grace political rallies and show up at polling units to secure political victories, Rev. Mrs. Eyoawan Otu has demonstrated beyond doubt that her passion, commitment, intention, and zeal in tackling sexual-based violence, sexual exploitation harassment within official and educational quarters as well as other harmful practices unleashed on the female gender by primitive cultural crusaders is unequivocal and devoid of ulterior political undertones.
The noble intention behind the floating of " Humanity Beyond Borders", a pet project of the Cross River First Lady crafted to spearhead government intervention in uplifting the economic status of market women, providing prompt succor to the vulnerable girls especially survivors of SGBV, while seeking to rehabilitate street children bereft of parental care and affection portrays a rare spec of beauty and brain poised to alter the narratives of the vulnerable in Cross River for good.
Her rich resume, predicated on a solid educational background and coupled with meritorious public service records spanning across the three tiers of government neatly polished her ahead for the task of leveraging the government agenda in addressing gender-related issues.
Given her penchant for attaining the set targets imbedded in her"Humanity Without Borders" initiative, glaring vociferous support to SGBV campaigns, etc, Cross River certainly boasts of an enigma in the likes of the biblical Esther poised to leverage the trappings of the palace for her optimum impact in her society.
Therefore, as the glasses click, and drums roll to celebrate this icon, we salute the dexterity, burning passion and dedication demonstrated in her service to God and humanity which constitute the hallmarks of human existence.
Given her pivotal role in the emergence of the present administration, one hopes that this amiable First Lady will up the ante in addressing glaring inequality by leveraging her influence in tackling the lopsided nature of appointments so far rolled out by the present government which is a far cry from the 35% affirmative action consensus.
