Nigerian Representative, Platform for African Women in Smart Climate Agriculture (PAWISCA), Bishop (Mrs.) Bola Oyegbami with the executive members have vowed to break barriers with a view to changing the mindset of women in general and repositioning them to effectively contribute their quota in nation-building
She made the declaration at a press briefing in Lagos where she announced the inauguration of the foundation to take place at Obasanjo Library in Abeokuta on November 1, 2022. The Grand Patron of the Foundation, former President Olusegun Obasanjo will be declaring open the inauguration to be attended by State Governors and other dignitaries while on 2nd November, the interactive session would take place in Ikeja, Lagos to be attended by local government chairmen and their executives.
According to Oyegbami, the initiative which was founded in the United States of America by Mrs Mariam Omalla-Gavin, who would also be at the inauguration, is aimed at arresting the social and economic setback through a positive innovation as a corporate body for the mobilization of human and material resources for massive employment, wealth creation towards improved quality of livelihood of people.
“We have four major projects and Lagos State is a pilot project for all other states to replicate.
“The first one is water technology and we are going to take our water from the Atlantic Ocean. It is salty water but we are taking a cue from Dubai by following the process of desalination. The plants and machinery we are going to use will come all the way from the USA.
“In our agricultural and agribusiness value chain project plan, we wish to, through our policy programme on quality assurance/quality control value chain and total quality organic agro and allied projects, hope to produce goods of high quality in our integrated value-chain agro-industrial part that will meet the international standard under a competitive free market economy.
“African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement with the Federal Government will enable us to hit the African continental market garnering a market population of not less than 1.3 billion people,” she said.
According to Oyegbami, the foundation which cuts across every religion is partnering with State governors, first ladies, Commissioner for Women Affairs among others, adding that young girls would be trained in various vocations to be self-sustained.
