…Says after 24 years, Champion Newspaper first to recognise her efforts in eradicating women trafficking, child labour
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Wife of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Amina Titi Abubakar, has said that people don’t support her pet project, the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) because she is married to Abubakar.
The wife of the 2023 presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) also said since the inception of the non governmental organisation 24 years ago, Champion Newspapers Limited was the first to recognise her efforts.
Abubakar stated this during the conferment of the Champion Newspaper 2023 Leadership (Heart of Gold) Award on her in Abuja.
Abubakar however assured that there was no going back in her activities at WOTCLEF, expressing the determination of the total eradication of women trafficking and child labour.
Abubakar recalled how the establishment of WOTCLEF paved way to what is today known as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking Persons (NAPTIP).
Abubakar said: “I have been doing this job for 24 years and nobody has ever recognised me. They have not called me for recognition and I said to myself that I am just doing God’s work, that my reward is in heaven.
“There was a day I put an advert in the newspaper that these children I am taking care of are not my children, but Nigerian children, that even if it is one, one penny, they should all contribute and still, nobody contributed anything. They said after all, I am Atiku’s wife. It is one thing to be married to Atiku and it is another thing to have the passion to do what I am doing. And because I have the passion for what I was doing, I continued to strive.”
Abubakar further said while her husband held sway as the number two citizen in the country, it was a different ball game when compared to life after office when she had to rely on her personal income to cater for the activities of the organization.
“When I was in the Villa, I was feeding these children with government’s food and out of government, I am still taking care of these children,” Abubakar stated.
Abubakar however expressed gratitude to Champion Newspapers Limited for the recognition, including those carrying out the activities at WOTCLEF.
Abubakar acknowledged the commitment of WOTCLEF staff, saying that they have stood by her even as she doesn’t have so much money for them.
“I have been carrying this crusade for so many years. These people you see working with me, I don’t have so much money to give them, but they are working.
“Out of school children don’t only go through primary schools, but secondary and tertiary education. Two of them just returned from Nasarawa. They are graduates now and here I am still standing strong,” Abubakar further said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion and the immediate past Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, thanked Champion Newspapers Limited for the award, particularly for going out to fish out the right persons who ought to be honoured.
Okowa added that many times when he attended newspapers’ awards, most times, people who were sitting in government were the people recognised and given awards.
“But this particular award is a very special award. As special in the sense that they have even gotten it right – The Heart of Gold. It is reserved for those who work tirelessly for others,” Okowa said.
Okowa further eulogised Abubakar, saying that she is a woman of dignity, high integrity and somebody who has been on the crusade to attend to the lives of the less privileged in the society.
In her remarks, the Group Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Champion Newspapers Limited, Nwadiuto Iheakanwa, said identifying Abubakar as the first female recipient of the Champion Newspapers flagship leadership series Heart of Gold Award for 2023 wasn’t much of a challenge for the Board of Editors in view of the fact that Abubakar towered above all her competitors.
“For example, as founder of Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, a non-governmental organization, she has in the past three decades impacted positively on the welfare of thousands of women and the girl child through her strong advocacy and vigorous campaign against women trafficking and child labour, a people-oriented project which she continues to use in serving humanity and projecting the image of fatherland positively in the comity of nations,” Iheakanwa said.
In his remarks, the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, said it was a great honour to join the noble gathering in honouring a woman who truly has a heart of gold.
Abubakar who was represented by former Lagos and Osun States Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, also said the awardee has been his wife of over 50 years.
“In these years, I can say with utmost conviction that she is both a great wife to her husband, a wonderful mother to her children and a willing shoulder to lean on to millions of her needy compatriots, young and old, north and south,” Abubakar said.