UNFPA TEAM PAYS A COURTESY CALL ON THE WIFE OF CRS GOVERNOR

The Country Resident Representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Ms Victoria Akyeampong, has commended the Wife of Cross River Governor, Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke for her intervention on women and children through her NGO, Partnership Opportunities for Women Empowerment Realization (POWER).

 

Ms. Akyeampong made the commendation yesterday when she paid a courtesy visit to her in Calabar.She said her visit to POWER has afforded her the opportunity to know more about the NGO to explore collaboration opportunities.

 

 She said she was in the state to intimate Mrs. Imoke on the activities of UNFPA especially regarding the forthcoming commissioning of the UN House in Calabar where she would also present the 2013 State of the World Population Report  that  covers specific issues around the world that are population related.

 

She intimated that it is the first UN agency to open a zonal office in the state that would serve the whole of South/ South region of Nigeria.

 

Giving her reason for the choice of Calabar, the UNFPA country representative stated that “we see Calabar as the nexus of South/ South region and it is a good way of announcing our presence in the state as high prevalence of child marriage still exists in this area”.

 

Ms. Ayeampong explained that her visit was part of their annual activities to report what is happening around the world and disclosed that the focus of UNFPA interventions this year is on adolescent pregnancy, providing assistance to repair the cases of VVF whose prevalence, she noted, was on the rise in the South/South zone. Other areas of intervention include, commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child of which the Theme is "Innovating for Girls' Education" is looking at innovative ways to help girls stay in school longer. The belief is that there is a correlation between adolescent pregnancy and education because an educated girl makes informed choices. She said that the curricula would include sexuality education, issues about gender based violence and other harmful traditional practices. 

 

The Country Rep also made a request on behalf of UNFPA for Mrs. Imoke and her husband, Governor Liyel Imoke to host the commissioning of UN House and 'make it a memorable occasion'.

Responding, the Governor’s wife and Founder/ Board Chair POWER, Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke thanked the UNFPA Country Resident Representative and her team for their visit.

 

She also thanked them for citing the zonal office in Calabar, describing the gesture as a sign of more positive things for the state.

She said that Cross River has a partnership with UNICEF in many areas and expressed her desire for her NGO, POWER, to partner UNFPA in any area that can uplift humanity.

 

She also informed that Cross River has a VVF Centre funded by USAID and located at Ogoja, Northern Senatorial District of the state. 

 

Mrs. Imoke made a power point presentation that explained the aims, vision and mission of her NGO POWER stating that is a not-for-profit NGO founded by her seven years ago and registered as a company limited by guarantee.

In her words “POWER aims to holistically empower the women of Cross River State with a focus on their economic empowerment ‘by putting money in the hands of a woman. Its vision is essentially that of a Cross River State characterized by a low level of extreme poverty and fully empowered women”. 

 

Explaining further, the initiator of NGO POWER said that POWER works for actualization of its vision through the creation of opportunities for partnership and networking among all classes of women entrepreneurs with special emphasis on local sources of livelihood and enhancement of access to knowledge, skills and resources for vulnerable women to realize their full potentials.

 

She disclosed that the re-engineering process has led to the development of four priority goals which are in the strategic areas of sustainable economic empowerment, Micro and small enterprise development enabling policy and social environment and institutional capacity building.

Nancy Irek