From Maryam to Aisha Babangida: Gifts to Nigerian and African Women

Having individuals to look up to is one of the greatest privileges in human life. Such individuals not only serve as ceilings for aspirations but also assist in clearing out obstacles. This is what the late Maryam Babangida was to many Nigerian and African women. Now, her daughter, Aisha Babangida has taken up the charge and is doing much better than anyone could have envisaged.

The office of a nation’s First Lady is peerless. In Nigeria where there is much respect for leaders, this office has no equal in the heart of the average Nigerian. When the late Maryam occupied the office, she set the tone for this regard, contributing so much to Nigerian women that she is forever remembered as the first First Lady to rouse the hearts of Nigerians.

Perhaps the biggest gift that First Lady Maryam left behind is her project, Better Life Programme for the African Rural Woman (BLPARW). This project has essentially become the standard for women’s empowerment through formal education and entrepreneurship training in West Africa. Moreover, thanks to the continuing work of Aisha, the initiative has expanded in scope to cover more of the lives of Nigerian and African women, transforming the lives of beneficiaries in ways never before seen.

There is no arguing how much contribution has been made by Aisha. She is not only fulfilling the obligation of a daughter to her mother in overseeing the work of BLPARW and sharpening it; she has also found that thing that motivated her mother to establish the initiative in the first place, going so far as creating other initiatives on the same level as BLPARW and with similar objectives.

At the end of the day, one can conclude that former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida helped bring these two women, Aisha and her late mother, to the centre stage. For that, many are grateful and remain in awe of the mother-and-daughter pair.