Iwalola Akin-Jimoh, a nutritionist, Executive Secretary of Youth Empowerment Foundation and Director of Fitness Connections Family Centre Gym is a woman of many parts. She is on the board of civil society organisations in Nigeria; Positive Action for Treatment Access (PATA), Development Communications Network (Devcoms) and Ovie Brume Foundation. She speaks with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE on making policies work at the grassroots and women in governance.

How easy is it for women in governance?

I think there’s really nothing easy in life, nothing comes easy to anybody except you strive and work hard. So governance, just like so many other sectors of a society and so many aspects of our lives, is not easy. And so I can’t say it’s easy for women in governance. And I can’t say it’s difficult for women in governance. I think one of the key things is that when women go into governance and into politics, they have to go with the mindset of the fact that they’re going to excel. When you talk about the spirit of excellence and the spirit of being able to achieve, it actually comes from hard work. And hard work for me includes things like knowing your onions, knowing a lot about whatever office that you are leading, being able to take mentorship and encourage your team to ensure that you achieve that excellence in whatever you do; being able to stand up for what is right, support your community, rally round and ensure that your community have all the resources for them to move on so when talking about governance generally, it’s about us, and it’s about how we do whatever we are supposed to do in our little spaces. Saying whether it’s easy for women in governance or it’s difficult for women in governance is not something that I would like to dwell on. But rather, whatever it is that you have that God has put in your hands to do in whatever capacity, how well do you do this and how often  do you excel? And how much do you actually contribute to the development of your society?  Because when people hear women in governance, they think it’s just about people, women in politics. No, that’s not what we’re saying. It’s also about what you do within your space.  And I think one of the key things we need to know is that nothing comes easy.

Is there a restriction on women in the political circle?

I think there’s some sort of restriction on women in the political circle because first and foremost, when you look at the makeup of political parties, you find that not many women have, for example, representation in excos and all that, and key roles within the political parties. You see them being, okay, this one is women leader this, women leader that. Do you see men leaders? I’m not sure you see men leaders. So I mean, what we are asking for is a complete genderised party. That’s what we’re looking out for. And when you look at the times that they have their political meetings, the duration of such political meetings, sometimes it’s not really compatible with the schedule of women. I feel that there’s some sort of restriction, but then, we should look beyond the restriction to actually see how we can make women more liable to participate in politics. Those are very key issues.

Policies are made that do not have an impact on women at the grassroots, how can this be changed?

When you want to make policies or when you want to conduct programmes for grassroots women, if you don’t have their direct involvement, if you don’t have their voice, whatever it is you’re doing, you’re just wasting your time. It’s not going to be relevant. And that applies across several domains. Even you wanting to implement a project in the community, they need to have a voice.

What are your thoughts about women having multiple streams of income?

Now, the truth is, currently in Nigeria, having just one source of income is actually dangerous because that source of income can dry up within minutes or even within a day. So it’s important for you to have diverse ways of earning income. So even if you have a steady job, it’s important for you to have other things that you’re doing by the side, which does not mean that you’re not making your deliverables on your regular job, but also to have earning income through other several means.

Is the Nigerian society fair to women?

The Nigerian society is not fair to anybody; it’s not fair to men, it’s not fair to women, it’s not fair to children, it’s not fair to adolescents, it’s not fair to young people. And that is what I’ll say about this. How do you have heads of governments who have decided to allocate huge sums of money to purchase vehicles when the common man cannot even afford a decent meal in a day? So when you talk about fairness generally, where do you want to start from? The Nigerian society is a patriarchal society and we know, and it’s not about to change anytime soon. So I think the key thing is to have a Nigerian society that is fair to all. When you have a Nigerian society that is fair to all, definitely it will be easy to talk about fairness to women; because the truth of the matter is, when you look at what is happening currently in Nigeria, things are really, really bad. I just feel it’s not about women; it’s about the Nigerian society itself being fair to its own people.