Her Excellency, Hajiya Asmau Abdulaziz Yari
is currently the Chairperson, Northern Governors Wives Forum. Haj. Asmau is a
rare combination of beauty, brains, humility and has a heart of gold that has
endeared her to the hearts of many people in her state. Her genuine love for
humanity birthed a Non-Governmental Foundation called Hanun Taimako, which was
established for the purpose of reaching out to the masses in her state. Her Excellency
has also foot countless medical bills for the less privileged and organised
free surgeries not only in her state but also across the nation. She seizes
every opportunity to promote and support girl child education. She is presently
working toward finding a lasting solution to drugs abuse or addiction among
youths and children.
Despite her tight and busy schedule, the soft spoken and beautiful
mother of four, found time to have a chat with us. She tells us what she does
with her free time, her style, what she loves doing, and most importantly how
to help the North to move forward. Excerpts:
Good day ma, please can we meet you?
My name is Hajiya Asmau Abdulaziz
Yari, I am the wife of the Governor of Zamfara State. I have combined Honours
in French and Linguistics; I graduated from the University of Maiduguri. I have
four children, two boys and two girls. I also have a pet project and the name
is in Hausa, “Hanun Taimako” which means “Helping Hands” in English.
What have been your experiences/challenges so far doubling as the First
Lady of Zamfara State and Chairperson of Northern Governors’ Wives Forum?
My challenges so far as the wife
of the Governor of Zamfara State, or if I will say as the First Lady of my
State is so overwhelming, it is neither an easy thing nor an easy task. This is
because you have to divide your time between family and the people around you
such as the politicians, the people that have supported you and also that have
voted for your husband to be in the office. And as always, my role as a wife is
to support my husband. I have to also
support the women in my state. I make sure that whatever I do, I put in a lot
so that it will be a success, be it Health, be it Education or Agriculture. And
concerning my role as the Chairperson of Northern Governors’ Wives Forum, it's
so far so good because I don’t want to put it as challenges. The Northern
Governor’s Wives Forum is a forum that has been in existence; and I think in
2011 when we came into power we met another Chairperson of the forum, that was
Her Excellency Mrs. Suswam and I learnt a lot from how she carried out the
affairs of the forum. Later on I
succeeded her. The challenges are a bit different in the sense that northerners
are very conservative, and they are not as a group outspoken, or even active as
a forum. But in so far as we came together as one big happy family, the number
one thing I always try to ensure is that everyone is respected. We also make
sure that we are committed to what we do and also communicate, which is very
important.
The wife of the president, Her Excellency, Hajiya Aisha Buhari recently
played host to the wives of northern governors and the meeting focused on some
peculiar challenges facing the northern part of the country. What are the
challenges peculiar to your state and what are your plans in tackling them?
I think after our meeting on the
31st October, 2016 we decided to go and visit the First Lady because
she is our mother and our leader. We went to brief her on the challenges we are
facing as a group from the northern side. And one of the things we discussed
with her was the issue of drug abuse or addiction among youths and children;
because this problem is a silent killer in the north. We noticed that a lot of
people in the north are living in denial. If you have 10 households in the
north, I think 9 out of the 10 will have a female or a male that is on drugs.
We felt that because it is the north, we tend to keep quiet; we don’t talk
about problem maybe because of the way we were brought up or our culture. So
this problem tends to escalate and a lot of people are suffering from drugs
abuse and nothing is being done about it. So this was one of the few challenges
we dicussed with the First Lady and she has a strong passion to fight against drug
addiction. She said she is ready to help
us and see how we can come together and also bring the voice of the North
together to see how we can tackle that problem. Concerning the issues facing
Zamfara State, I think it is not only Zamfara that is facing problems, but a
lot of other states are facing it as well. One of the first person to be heard
during the meeting spoke to us about HIV among youths and adolescents. He said
that the percentage of young girls is higher than that of young males. And I asked
him, why it is so; is it because of early marriage or rape cases? He said yes,
that there is an issue of early marriage in the north and if you are talking
about this in the north then it is also happening in my state. But this is not
the major problem that we are facing in my state now in terms of girl child
education. And you know it is not just about enrolling them but about retaining
the girl child in school. A lot of parents do enrol their girl child in school
but the problem we are having sometimes is as soon as these girls get to
probably JSS 2 or 3, they drop out of school. And even if they don’t get
married, that is the end of their education. So we are trying to appeal to the
parents of Zamfara State, especially the girl child parents, to keep their
children in school and also to retain them.
Speaking of girl child education, what is the percentage of girls in
school in Zamfara State?
I don’t have the figures
correctly, but it is a bit low.
What is the mission of the Northern Governors’ Wives Forum under your
care?
Our mission is to come together,
because we believe that when we come together we will have one voice. And when
you have one voice, you will have a stronger voice so that when you sit down to
find solutions, or look for a way forward for the North in terms of girl child
education, in terms of health issues and even mortality, when we come together,
I think it gives us a wider or broader platform to achieving and making a
difference in the North.
What are the challenges and the achievements of the Northern Governors’
Wives Forum under your leadership?
I wouldn’t say it is a new forum,
but I was elected as the Chairperson sometime back in January and the first
meeting we had was in February and since then one issue let to another issue.
We didn’t have any other meeting until October. What I will say so far as our
achievement is that sometimes, when we come together as a group there is a lot
of interest; there is a lot of things to look at, and when we sit together to
discuss what everyone has in her state, this gives another person an insight on
what to go back to your own state and probably tackle that same issue; to kind
of emulate what others have done.
How do you get support for the forum?
That is one of the challenges we
are actually facing, financial challenges. But we try to source money from ourselves. We have some little
dues that we pay amongst ourselves and we also support ourselves.
Don’t you reach out to see if you can get support from other agencies
or groups?
Well, that is what we intend to
do, to get in touch with international agencies to see if they can come and
help us.
Pet projects and NGOs have become a common phenomenon among state first
ladies in Nigeria. Your pet project, Hanun
Taimako (Helping Hands) Foundation has come a long way. What will you say
have been the Foundation’s achievements and challenges so far?
So far I have the Almighty God to
thank. The journey we began so far with
my pet project, I am happy that the people, especially the women of Zamfara
State, have acknowledged the fact that Hanun
Taimako is really out there to help them. We have done so much in terms
of women empowerment, we have done skills acquisition, and we have taken the
health sector and also done a lot of surgeries to women and men in the State.
We have done free surgeries by taking like 200 people from each local
government and we also took some people from Kaduna. After the surgery, we gave
them money to go back home. They have various illnesses, we have people that
have appendix, eye problem, there were just so many illnesses and it wasn’t
just the people that were living in the state capital, but people from the
rural areas that probably have no access to health care. And it was maybe
difficult for them to go to the hospital, we had them screened and the doctors
operated on them free of charge; and afterwards sent them back home. That was
something that we felt the magnitude of the help we rendered to the people.
Where do you hope to see the foundation in the next two to three years?
I hope to see it prosper to
greater height; I want to keep it flying. It is not just about the fact that
now I am the governor’s wife and in few years I won’t be a governor’s wife. But
I really want to continue with what I am doing, I want to continue with the
humanitarian services because it is always good when you help other people and
also feel good about yourself.
How do you juggle between being the first lady, a wife and a mother?
I think my kids are used to it
now. So I divide my time between Abuja and Zamfara. My kids stay in Abuja and
also school in Abuja. So what I do is, anytime I have a programme in Zamfara, I
go back and forth, I will catch the next available flight from Sokoto back to
Abuja or sometimes I go by road. I think I am managing it well actually.
What is your fashion style?
These days fashion is evolving.
There are so many fashion styles; I just go for chick, classy and comfortable.
What is your best fashion accessory?
I love jewelleries, I like wearing them. It could be something,
if I am not at home, maybe I have a casual outing, it doesn’t have to be
dramatic but outspoken. Like in an event, sometimes you want to stand out in
the crowd, so it all depends on the mood.
How do you spend your 24 hours when you are not busy?
How do I spend my 24 hours? Well,
I think I like to eat, not that I am the kind of person that eats too much. I
just like to munch snacks and all these fatty things you can think of. I also
like reading, I read all sorts of books like magazine, I used to read
literature books, but not anymore. When I am not busy, I watch the television.
How often do you spend quality time with your family?
Most of the time when I am at
home I spend quality time with them because they are always around me and whenever
I have guests they are always barging into me, so I am always around them .
What are your hobbies?
I like listening to music because
it calms me down, it all depends on the mood that I am in. I like reading and
also drawing, like making sketches. I once ventured into the fashion industry
too. But I think right now, my actual one number hobby is that I am always on
my phone. I listen to people, I have become like their consultant. I listen to
their complaints and where I can help them I do that, but where I can't, I just
give them a word of advice.
What do you want people to remember you for?
I just want people to remember me
for a kind hearted, gentle, generous human being, the one that listens to her
people, and the one that communicates well with her people with so much love
and so much passion. Someone who makes a
difference, and the reason why I am so passionate with the women in my state is
because I am from that state too. It is really difficult for woman that when
you come out from the north there are so many issues, like culture and
religion, and once you are educated you will have a voice. You should use that
voice to become an idea to the young ones so that when they see you, they will
want to emulate you and be like you. So these are really the kind of things
that I want to be remembered for.
What message do you have for people in your state and Nigerians as a
whole?
The message I have for my people
in Zamfara is as always, we want their support and we also want their patience.
Because things don’t just happen like magic, it is never easy when you are the
leader, you need people to support you and believe in you so that the promises
you made to them can be fulfilled. So I just want to call out to them to
continue to support us and to continue to believe in us and I know that at the
end of the day we have their best interest at heart.
By: Pupwaya Timothy Dibal
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