# Aishatu Madawaki

Aishatu Madawaki, OFR (born in 1951) is a Nigerian academic and politician. She was the first woman professor from the old Sokoto caliphate states (comprising present-day Sokoto State, Zamfara State and Kebbi State), an Islamic dominated region in Northern Nigeria. In 1999, she was made Commissioner for women affairs and social development by the Attahiru Bafarawa-led administration. Madawaki is also an advocate for the representation of Nigerian women in politics.

## Quotes

* For any development to take place, there has to be gender equity.
** From an international women's day rally (March 8 2017)
* Women are very peaceful, tolerant, incorruptible and patriotic.
** From an international women's day rally (March 8 2017)
* Give her skills that would enable her to empower herself, not just acquiring the knowledge. Let the knowledge be there and the knowledge not just the theoretical aspect but let’s have the practical aspect.
** Aishatu Madawaki speaks on the girl child education
* So the issue of relegating women to the background is a thing of the past, women are now fully aware that we are human beings, God created us.
** Aishatu Madawaki speaking on women's participation in politics
* If we go by merit we have so many intelligent and determined women who are focused and can deliver any time.
** Aishatu Madawaki speaking on women's contribution in the society
* It is not just exposing the girl child to acquire the basic education, but what happens afterwards. Give her skills that would enable her to empower herself, not just acquiring the knowledge. Let the knowledge be there and the knowledge not just the theoretical aspect but let’s have the practical aspect.
** Aishatu Madawaki speaking on the girl-education
* If your religion has given you power, opportunity, and the go-ahead to seek knowledge where ever you can get it, then what is limiting you? The only problem is attitudinal and that we have to address and change.
** Aishatu Madawaki speaking on girl- child education in northern Nigeria
* There are obstacles that are not surmountable, there are also obstacles that are surmountable. So I believe that challenges are good in somebody’s life because challenges build somebody.
** Aishatu Madawaki speaking on how she manages her work and homefront
* Well, I have said it, it is really encouraging, if you go to our universities now, both state and federal universities, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions, the enrollment of women is really encouraging. They are really going further now.
** Aisha Madawaki speaking in an interview on improving girl child education
* Only the emergence of a woman President would end such marginalisation and allow women contribute more meaningfully to national development.
* Women in the state would push for the emergence of a woman president in Nigeria in 2019.
* Women should be given more space to exercise their rights in the country.
* My parents are enlightened and educated, so in my family right from the first to the last child, we are all exposed to this issue of western life and Islamic education. My father had said if it means spending his last penny he would educate my siblings and I on both western and Islamic education, and he really did keet his promise before he died. So I have all the encouragement from my late father to my husband, friends, brothers and sisters.
* Well, I have said it, it is really encouraging, if you go to our universities now, both state and federal universities, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions, the enrollment of women is really encouraging. They are really going further now.
* You know it was as a result of my participation with non-governmental organisations (NGO) in the state, that actually brought me out and that was how I even got the recognition of some of the international agencies. That was how government and some international agencies got to know about me and really involved me in their activities.
* I was a consultant to UNICEF at a point, to USAID and other international agencies and that was how even the state government got to know me, and got convinced of my ability to really deliver and I was invited to really participate in running the state affairs.
* I was part and parcel of the formation of some of the NGOs and also a member of for instance, the Federation of Muslim Women
Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN), of which I was a founding member. Myself and a friend did initiate the NAPWAP which is a health NGO particularly concerned with issues of HIV/AIDS in the state. Furthermore, I did some consultancy for Family Health International, (FHI) which really got me occupied with a lot of NGO activities and I can say I am glad that I do NGO work.
* The whole issue of HIV/AIDS was new and it was myself and one Hajara who started creating awareness about it then. We achieved that by going round schools, prison yards and some ministries, to do advocacy and sensitisation exercises and later, we embarked on some training programmes and thereby got some funding from some organisations to work more.
As a result of those activities, I was invited by FHI to go to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire for training, as well as some conferences on that, sponsored by the FHI.
* From there we continued that same exercises of HIV/AIDS, and I was again asked to consult and look at the issue of people living with HIV/AIDS in Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states and I did and we submitted the result. On the basis of our findings, so many other strategies were adopted to really address the issue of HIV/AIDS in Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states.
* This is really long overdue, and I think time has come for women to really get up and participate fully in politics not only in politics but all spheres of life. The only thing is, we should, and must be guided by our religious status and once you have that in mind, you would go places, and also be comfortable, wherever you find yourself. So the issue of relegating women to the background is a thing of the past, women are now fully aware that we are human beings, God created us. So, even in the teachings of our religion, there are areas where men are superior to women, there are areas where men and women are equated. So women have qualities to reckon with.
* The only thing is to give women the opportunity to do that, we lack this and, also the Nigerian factor of picking people in some areas based on interest is really what is killing the situation. If we go by merit we have so many intelligent and determined women who are focused and can deliver any time.
* Although the situation has improved and is improving, I am not really impressed, because you have more of talking than action as people tend to talk too much but little is done. You hear so many things about girl-child education, but if you go round actually what people are saying, this is not exactly what is happening. Like I said, there is improvement but we need to do more than what we are doing.
* What is expected doesn’t stop at just enrollment. We may have very high enrollment figures but in the area of monitoring and supervision, you find so many things falling apart. For instance, if you enroll a hundred girls this year, by the time you get to the second year, if there is no proper monitoring, you hardly get fifty girls.So what are we saying? What we need is not high enrollment figure but high retention figure, high completion figure and after completion, what next?
* We would be able to add something that would add value to their lives, so we need to have serious programmes that would really empower women in Nigeria, most especially in the north.
* In addition, going by the free education policy, the only problem is that, how free is the free, when you find little charges?
In Sokoto state, for example, there is free education, at least basic education, that I am sure of and if it is free, what we need to do is just to be committed to think of how to transfer the child to that place where he or she will be given basic education. I don’t believe parents lack the financial power to take their girl-child to the school and I don’t believe it is the religion that stops them as was believed initially.
* We have been hearing our elders, our imams and malams preaching the gospel of truth, saying that it is not the religion of Islam that discourages participation of women in the pursuit of knowledge, because it is categorically stated that acquisition of knowledge is mandatory to every male and female child, so it is not religious, it is not, it is not Islam. If your religion has given you power, opportunity, and the go-ahead to seek knowledge where ever you can get it, then what is limiting you? The only problem is attitudinal and that we have to address and change.
* Well, there are so many challenges, both internal and outside your home. As a wife and mother there are internal challenges and many other issues to contend with; you go to the external places it is the same thing.
The work place you have your colleagues there, you have the students there. So, there are so many issues that when you look at the challenges some will weigh you down while others will improve and develop you, and that is good. There are obstacles that are not surmountable, there are also obstacles that are surmountable. So I believe that challenges are good in somebody’s life because challenges build somebody.
* First and formost, I am an advocate of girl-child education because I have seen the benefits, and I have been a role model to many young girls. I will call on the women in the state, the region and country in general to really be focused, to be determined to achieve the best in any condition and environment they found themselves.
* For parents generally, I will urge them to treat all their children equally because all human beings are equal before the Creator. There is no inferior or superior sex, we all have our weaknesses and we all have our strengths. And if you look at it critically I am happy that when you go out and begin to talk with people you would begin to hear women are more affectionate, compassionate, more understanding, they are more intelligent and parents are now beginning to appreciate their female children more than even the male children and that is good.
* I will use this opportunity to call on the parents to please look at the female children as they are looking after their male children, let them educate female children as they are educating male children, and they shouldn’t have the impression that females have lower intelligence level, because in some areas girls are even more intelligent than boys, and research has proved that.
* I will call on parents to really take the girl-child issues more serious, I will call on the government to also address the issue of girl-child education more seriously and I will call on the opinion leaders and the policy makers to really come up with policies that would really favour girl-child education. I pray that God Almighty Allah will widen the scope, open up our eyes, give us more knowledge, and more focus, more determination to see that the girl-child is really educated.
* I saw the area to be an interesting field, most especially as a woman, and as a mother. I thought the course would be useful to me, my children, and the community itself. Psychology is all about the study of human behaviour, the how, what and, when. By the time you meet with people, and you are able to draw insights from observing them, then half of the problem is solved.
* I am more concerned about the orientation of the family, especially for the girl child. I was also married quite early, but my parents knew the value of education, and it didn’t deter me from furthering it,” she said. “Marginalization of women in any form should be eradicated from the human space.