BY OLUFISOYE ADENITAN
Foundation of wives of Ondo state officials, FOWOSO is a platform that brings together women from the eighteen local government areas to brainstorm on inclusion, economic empowerment among others.
The foundation established by the wife of the governor , Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu had its 3rd summit this year in Akure.
In this special report, Olufisoye Adenitan finds out if the foundation is actualising its purpose or it is a waste of tax payers money .
Despite the fact that the constitution does not recognise the office of wife of the governor , most governors wives have pet projects and various programs implemented through their offices.
Many atimes these projects gulp millions of naira of tax payers money .
The FOWOSO programme hyped to be a forum for women empowerment also turned out to be a social gathering characterized with the usual Aso ebi and dance jamboree.
20 women from each of the eighteen local government were sponsored by the councils for the day one of the event while about one hundred women came from each council area for the day two of the summit.
Radio Nigeria gathered that each participant was billed fifty thousand naira and twenty women were paid for by the councils.
Some of the women who spoke of the benefits of the programme noted that they benefited foodstuffs, Ankara fabrics among others
The question now is if fowoso had actually fulfilled its purpose considering the state of the economy which had negatively affected implementation of capital projects as well as payment of salaries in particular?
The chairman of the 3rd fowoso summit , a Retired Major , Mrs Renike Alaka during a visit to media houses in Ondo had insisted that the programme was empowering women for sustainable development and inclusion.
Though the 3rd Fowoso summit has come and gone, analysts however said genuine and purposeful leadership was still needed to bring women out of poverty with adequate inclusion rather than the usual jamborees of dancing, singing and flaunting of aso ebi, often associated with women in political space .
According to them , To achieve economic empowerment for women, political leaders and their spouses should have more sincerity of purpose in programme implementation rather than using their offices to amass the commonwealth of the people.