First ladies and governors’ wives rush to inaugurate pet projects shortly after the assumption of office by their husbands but these projects become extinct almost immediately after they exit office. Sulaimon Olanrewaju examines their excellencies’ passion for pet projects.
THE fund-raising ceremony for Turai Yar’Adua’s International Cancer Centre (ICC), Abuja, was a crowd puller. Everybody who was somebody in the country in July 2009 was at the event. State governors, other leading politicians, frontline businessmen and diplomats were all at the ceremony. They did not only show up at the programme, they also supported the vision of the convener with their resources. At the end of the ceremony, N10 billion had been raised for the building of the ICC.The ICC was conceived by Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, the nation’s immediate past First Lady, as a place of succour for those battling with cancer. It was planned to be the best cancer treatment hospital on the continent of Africa. Mrs Yar’Adua had always shown concern for cancer patients. To draw attention to their plight, in December 2008, she organised the National Cancer Walk of two kilometres. She had, in company with some ministers, walked from the Millennium Park to the Eagle Square, Abuja.
The walk was coupled with some talks that drew the attention of the world to the agony of cancer patients. It was after the walk that she decided to pursue another of her pet projects, having earlier started the Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF). With the ICC, the former First Lady had planned to assuage the pains of cancer patients by ensuring that they were given adequate treatment which would put them on the path to full recovery, even if they had financial challenges. At the fund-raising, she said, “In International Cancer Centre, we have provided a waiting home for those who undergo cancer operations to enable them to receive the required chemotherapy. Some of them could not afford to wait for the very important therapy for some economic and social reasons, thereby making the surgery useless.” According to Mrs Yar’Adua, the centre would have facilities for support and treatment of cancer patients.
It was also expected to provide Bosom cancer screening done by clinical Bosom examinations and mammography. Not long after the fund-raising, the former First Lady acquired a parcel of land on which the centre would be built. But before work could commence on the land, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua took ill and later had to be flown abroad. Since his wife, the promoter of the ICC had to be with him, everything that had to do with the ICC was put on hold. Eventually, the music stopped for the centre because President Yar’Adua died in the course of his protracted illness. With the demise of her husband, Turai Yar’Adua stopped being the First Lady and that seems to have put paid to her decision to continue with the ICC project. Since she left office as the First Lady, nothing has been done about the project; the N10 billion raised by members of the public nothwithstanding.
But that has been the lot of the projects embarked upon by the nation’s first ladies and governors’ wives. They are run as personal and independent projects by the non governmental organisation they float during the tenure of their husbands. By the time they leave office, the government cannot take over the projects and since the sponsors no longer have access to slush funds from the public coffers nor enjoy the goodwill that will pull donors to the projects, the pet projects run into a hitch and become comatose.
It was Mrs Maryam Babangida, the late wife of Nigeria’s former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, who popularised the office of the First Lady as well introduced the idea of the occupant having a pet project. Shortly after the assumption of office by her husband on August 27, 1985, she announced her Better Life for Rural Women project. The project was initiated to enhance the self-worth of women generally and rural women especially. It was also meant to improve the self-reliance of rural women and improve their standards of living. To this end, poverty alleviation projects were kick started for the women.
Funds were raised for them, while capacity development activities were also arranged for them. Co-operative societies, cottage industries, farms and gardens, shops and markets, women centres and social welfare programmes were established to buoy their revenue generating abilities. The project also had secretariats across the country. To cap it all, the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women’s Development for research, training and mobilisation of women towards self-emancipation was established in 1993. But the projects did not survive the initiator. All the grounds that were covered by the scheme was lost when the promoter ceased to be the First Lady, following the forced exit from office of her husband.
The Maryam Babangida Centre has become a shadow of itself, nobody remembers to organise research, training and women mobilisation in the place any longer.Mrs Maryam Abacha also introduced her own pet project, Family Support Programme, after the ascension of her husband to the office of Head of State in 1993. Through the programme, she tried to bring succour to the family, especially women and children. While it may be true that many of the first ladies’ projects died with the departure from office of their champions, the case is slightly different with Maryam Abacha. While in office, she embarked on building health facilities in some parts of the country. In Kano and Birnin Kebbi states, she built some fistula centres. She also set up a centre in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and a few other states. These health facilities were later incorporated into the regular health care delivery systems of the beneficiary states.For Stella Obasanjo, it was Child Care Trust. The focus of the project was the underprivileged children, especially the physically and mentally retarded as well as orphans. She tried to make life better for some of the children in these categories. However, since her demise on October 23, 2005, the pet project has gone into extinction.
Titi Abubakar, wife of Obasanjo’s deputy, Atiku Abubakar, also started a pet project known as Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) while her husband was in office. She was able to advocate against child and women trafficking through the project. She also was able to integrate some of the affected women back into normal life. Incumbent First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has initiated her own pet project, The Women for Change Initiative. Apart from using the the instrumentality of her project to campaign for improved welfare of women, she has also been championing the 35 per cent affirmative action for women to be included in the decision making process in the country. Even at the state level, governors’ wives have been very active in worming their ways into the hearts of the populace through their pet projects. The idea of first ladies running pet projects is not limited to Nigeria but while most pet projects by wives of public office holders continue even after the expiration of the tenure of the promoters in other countries, the story is different in Nigeria.
The whole country is dotted with many abandoned projects championed by ex-first ladies. In Iddo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, a large expanse of land acquired by Idera De Foundation, the pet project floated by Mrs Mutiat Ladoja, wife of a former governor, Senator Rasidi Ladoja, for the purpose of training women and youth in skills development is currently overgrown with weeds. In Akure, the land acquired by the Handicapped Education Foundation, HANDEF, a non-governmental organisation founded by Mrs. Olufunke Agagu, wife of former governor of Ondo State, now lies in waste. That is the pattern all over the country.
Commenting on why first ladies’ projects fail to fly after leaving office, a sociologist, Mr Lanre Sodeinde, averred that this was principally because the promoters did not embark on the projects on altruistic basis. According to him, “They were not doing what they were doing in office because of any genuine love for the people. If they really loved the people, they would have continued with that even after leaving office. If their motive for embarking on the project was to improve the lot of the underprivileged, nothing would have been strong enough to deter them after leaving office.
“They might not have been able to continue on the same scale that they had while in office but their desire to see the lives of people improve would have egged them on.
“He added that many of the first ladies who started the projects just joined others without having a full understanding of what they were doing. They know that the trend was for the wife of the president or the wife of a governor to have a programme essentially for children and women and many of them just decided to have their own.”If you take time to study their operation, the pet projects are actually designed to improve the lot of the first ladies rather than the advertised targets,” Sodeinde, who works with the Aro Psychiatric Hospital, Abeokuta, said.
“If a governor’s wife should invite contractors working for the state government to a fund-raising ceremony for her project, will the contractors not honour the invitation? Now, who is going to audit the account? If the woman generates N100 million through the fund-raising ceremony and only disburses N10 million, who is going to call her to account? So, I dont think the focus of the pet projects is the under-privileged. I think it is a window for the wives of public officers to rake in money for themselves.”
However, Mrs Folake Afolabi, a social worker, believed that a number of the first ladies that started NGOs meant well for the public. “It is a known fact that women pay attention to the sublime issues overlooked by men,” she said. “While the men are busy with the serious state affairs, they overlook issues like abandoned children or children who are endangered one way or the other or even hurting women. This is where the issue of first ladies running programmes for this category of people come in. To be candid, many of them have done this very well. They have brought succour to many hurting people, they have wiped away tears from the faces of deprived citizens and I think we should appreciate them for what they have done.”
On why they abandoned such programmes on leaving office, she said they started the interventionist programmes because they were occupying a particular office, adding that it behoved on those currently in office to continue with such programmes. ”I am aware that many of them embarked on the projects to assist their husbands. So, the moment their husbands leave office, the basis for the projects no longer exists.
“So, I see no reason they should continue with the projects except some of them who are wealthy enough to run such programmes with their private funds,” she said.
But Mr Stanley Oransanye, a public affairs analyst, said while there was nothing wrong with first ladies taking up the challenge to improve lives in one area or the other, the best way to go about it was to integrate the programme of the first ladies into the specific ministry or government agency statutorily saddled with that responsibility.”
For instance, he said, “if a First Lady is interested in health issue, her project should be integrated into the activities of the Ministry of Health. The reason is simple: whatever innovations she introduces will be sustained by the ministry after exit. If she is able to raise money for a project, that project should be taken over by the ministry. The best that can be done is to name such project after her. That way, we will be able to stem the tide of abandoned projects all over the country.”
He, however, said that many of the women were not taking that option because of the megalomaniac tendencies in many of them.
“They want people to know that they are in power and they want to do things differently. Another reason is that if the projects are integrated into the activities of a government agency, funds generated will go to the agencies. But I dare say that the attraction for floating these projects could well be the money to be made from them. So, they will not want to pass that opportunity up. But I think it is time the nation took a step to stop te colossal waste of public funds through these first ladies projects.
“Even if Turai Yar’Adua has been able to complete the ICC, would she be able to run it? It would have done her and the country a world of good if the project had been handled in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health ab initio. Now, her dream of building a world-class cancer hospital is gone despite all the money raised. This is something those currently in office should pay attention to.”
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