LOLA Nigeria Interview
Three of LOLA Nigeria leaders – Boluwatife Oladejo, Debra Adesina and Abisol Olaiya, were interviewed by Ominira TV; a think tank in Nigeria earlier this month.
Chapter leaders talked about what LOLA has been doing in Nigeria, the rights of women in Africa, how to strive towards greater freedom, and ore. Ominira TV is a non-profit, pro-liberty media initiative with a mission to disseminate solutions to contemporary African issues while promoting freedom and prosperity.
Highlights:
Why should people come out to events?
“A saying that I really love is -people and ideas create change. A large number of women in Nigeria are complaining about their rights being trampled on or not having the necessary freedom to carry out what they want to do. The most sane thing is to be part of an organization that empowers you to understand your rights as a human being, to train you on how to fight for those rights…We provide training opportunities, we provide the right platform for you to understand that being a woman should not limit you. It should not limit you in terms of your career, it should not limit your decisions as a human being.”
What will motivate more women to aspire for greater freedom in Nigeria?
“I think the most significant thing would be preaching independence- national independence through empowerment opportunities because there’s so much poverty in Nigeria. There are so many women who are housewives, who are not even able to live without the finances of their husbands. There are so many women that have dreams but cannot achieve those dreams because they are not financially independent and because of their mindsets, they are still in that space where they are thinking that economic freedom is such a huge thing that they cannot aspire to.
But LOLA creates a platform where they are already empowered…and LOLA also provides entrepreneurship skill-based training which provide women the opportunity to go into their own business. Once a woman has financial independence, then she’s set. She can make her choices. Many times if you look at women in terrible situations they continue to stay in those terrible situations just because of their financial incapability. Because they cannot take care of themselves, of their children, because they are dependent on their parents or spouses, but if a woman has been empowered with financial freedom…to have a business or idea that you can do this, then I think you will be able to achieve more.