Elizabeth Olubunmi Amao: Championing the Cause of Air Force Wives

When she assumed office as the 21st National President of the Nigerian Air Force Officers Wives Association, one thing was paramount on Mrs. Elizabeth Olubunmi Amao’s mind- to holistically touch the lives of all members. One year and some months down the line, Chiemelie Ezeobi, who reviewed some of her achievements so far, reports that she has succeeded in tackling education, health, skill acquisition and vocational training for members and the less privileged while carrying widows of late military personnel along 

Married to Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, the 21st Chief of Air Staff (CAS), automatically made his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Olubunmi Amao, the National President, Nigerian Air Force Officers’ Wives Association (NAFOWA). 

As a non-governmental organisation, the association gets funding from the goodwill of the members of the public, corporate organisations, voluntary donations of members and enormous support of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to carry out charitable activities in different communities, across the nation.

However simple this might look, it’s not a tea party as the job of harmonising women and catering to their needs in whatever capacity is enormous not forgetting that the sole aim of NAFOWA is to make life easy for members, women and the less privileged in the society.

For Mrs. Amao, upon assumption of office in January 2021, the task facing her was daunting but she faced it headlong with candour and determination. Known for her calm mien and empathy for the less privileged, she has championed causes that have uplifted lives while helping the NAF in boosting its civil military relations.

Reshaping Academics

Given her commitment to provide effective and efficient quality education, her desire to reshape the general outlook of all NAFOWA schools and improve service delivery of its subscribers, NAFOWA is true to type.

One of the first bold steps she took was touring all NAFOWA Schools across the country to get first-hand knowledge of its current status. 

Her vision is to ensure that all NAFOWA Schools are positioned to compete favorably with other private and public schools in Nigeria and beyond. 

She tackled the issue of uniforms for the school pupils given that that NAFOWA had been dependent solely on foreign supply of uniform f a b r i c s a n d p r o d u c t i o n , a situation which at times led to shortage of uniforms.

In line with federal government’s policies of less dependency on foreign goods and sourcing locally to meet immediate needs, she set up of a tailoring work shop in the national secretariat to cushion the effects of late delivery and supply of uniforms to pupil. 

She also completed and kickstarted the NAFOWA Little Angels Primary School and NAFOWA Secondary School, both in Asokoro, as part of her commitment to expand and bring qualitative education to the base and all host communities. 

In Kaduna, the NAFOWA Little Angels School was also handed a lift with an additional classrooms to cater for expansion and reduce the population of students in classes. 

Training for Teachers

Not forgetting to train the trainers, Mrs. Amao in collaboration with the Directorate of Education (DOE) Headquarters Nigerian Air Force also organised a two-day Workshop themed “Modern Teaching Approaches and Classroom management” for the NAFOWA Little Angels Teachers in Abuja.

Stating that NAFOWA will continue to provide qualitative education to the children and wards of serving personnel and the society in general, she stressed that there was need to be aggressive in pushing the association’s ideal on education to the world through the training and retraining of teachers. 

She urged the Directorate to take stock of trends and modern styles of work and introduce it to NAF and NAFOWA Schools, while also urging teachers to put more effort into gaining access to materials and digital resources to integrate into their curriculum which will enable the children to be mentally and academically advanced in knowledge.

Medical, Humanitarian Outreach

In fulfillment of the association’s vision and motto “Service to Humanity” and in solidarity to the Nigerian Air Force at 57 Celebration; NAFOWA donated items worth millions of naira to 063 Nigerian Air Force Hospital Patients and Military Widows in Abuja.

Mrs. Amao while handing over the items to the Commander 063 NAF hospital, Group Captain Muzammil Mohammed, said the gesture was part of the association’s vision on healthcare delivery.

While urging the commander to make good use of the equipment in saving lives and ensuring improved health, she added that the donation was necessitated in other to enhance the Maternity and Pediatric Wards of the hospital and to serve both the personnel and host communities. 

Some of the items donated to the Hospital include Skyrun Air Conditioner, Patient Monitoring Gadget, BP Apparatus Manual, BP Apparatus Digital, Weighing Scale with Height, Fridge, Ward Screen, Wheel Chairs, Stretchers, Dissecting Forceps, Couscous Speculum, Underlay, Detergent, Disinfectant Stethoscope, Pulse Oximete, and Oxygen Gauge (UK).

Others include Weighing Scale, Latex Gloves, Emergency Trays, Stitch Scissors, Artery Forceps, Sponge Holders, Needle Holder, Surgical Scissors, Simms Speculum, Emergency Trolley, Neonatal Scale (Digital), Pediatric Stethoscope, Cartons of Syringes, 5ml Syringes, Salvon Disinfectant, Sterilisation Machine, and Pedal Bins. 

Passion for Widows 

Knowing the pains military widows face, Mrs. Amao has often carried them along in her acts of charity. Not known to discriminate between widows of other services, she as shared palliatives to  Military widows from the Army, Navy and Air Force where she presented clothings, food items and cash gifts to them.

Acknowledging the plight of the military widows, she said “these our sisters are mostly absent in the statistics, unnoticed by national and local authorities and mostly over looked by the civil society. Their plights, travails and challenges go unnoticed by the generality of the society” 

Thus, she said that NAFOWA whose motto is “service to humanity” chose the NAF week to specially celebrate and reach out to the wives of the fallen heroes and provide succour to them. 

Skill Acquisition, Facelift for Vocational Centre

NAFOWA under Mrs. Amao is very keen on skill acquisition and vocational training. In Abuja, the association recently graduated graduated 50 participants from its Inaugural Skills Acquisition and Vocational Training Programme after 12 weeks of intensive training in various vocational trades which includes Catering, Event Decoration, Wig Making, Soap Making and Air Condition Installation.

The graduands included youth and women, who are largely unemployed or underemployed, from within the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Bases in Abuja and their surrounding communities.

While thanking the CAS for his continuous support, Mrs. Amao said they had to explore a number of options that would add meaningful value to the lives of women and youths in NAF Bases across the country.

The major highlight of the event was the presentation of starter packs, comprising Mixer, A/C Installation tools, Soap Making tools, Wig Making Tools, among other accessories to the graduating students.

Just last February, NAFOWA  empowered another set of 60 participants in its second edition of the NAFOWA Skills Acquisition and Empowerment Programme in Abuja. 

The three- month long programme commenced on February 14, 2022, to provide participants with required knowledge and practical skills in vocational areas such as P.O.P, Make Up / Gele tying /Hair making, Household items / soap making, Leather Production, Home Decoration, Embroidery / Stoning and Catering.  

She reiterated the commitment of the association to contribute to the socio-economic wellbeing of women and military widows in the society, adding that the programmes will expose the participants to the essentials of skills acquisition including setting up small and medium scale enterprises which will in turn relieve the pressures on family daily demand especially at a time when white-collar jobs are not easily available. 

In the same vein, the NAFOWA Vocational Center in Lagos has also been rehabilitated and new equipment supplied to aid the smooth running of the school.

The national president has also set up a team to fix up modalities to upgrade the school in other to get an affiliation to Yaba Tech. 

Tackling Cancer 

Last year October, the National President did something commendable: she created awareness about the deadly scourge of cancer. She organised the NAFOWA cancer awareness day, which allowed free screening and testing.

Beyond that, she ensured the purchase of new equipment for the Cancer Centre, all geared at tackling the menace. 

Noting that cancer is a public health challenge nowadays which is responsible for about one in six deaths worldwide, she said creating awareness and educating the public is extremely important. 

Which was why the programme afforded NAFOWA the opportunity to drum up awareness about cancer and how important it is to take proactive measures to stay healthy as cancer has no regard for class or creed and can affect anyone. 

Championing early screening, she said  the disease can be effectively treated and this should encourage people to see stay vigilant and take actions to reduce the modifiable risk factors associated with cancer.

About Amao

Mrs Elizabeth Olubunmi Amao was born on March 13, 1966. A native of Igbara-oke, Ifedore Local Government Area, Ondo State, she attended St Joseph’s Catholic and St Paul’s Primary School, Igbara-oke and Community Olua High School, Igbara-oke, both in Ondo. 

She worked briefly in Nigeria Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, And Pipeline and Product Marketing Company Ltd (a subsidiary of NNPC) depot precisely, Kaduna.

 She also attended Kaduna State Polytechnic Zaria (Now Nuhu Bamali) for her National Diploma. Then, Houdegbe North American University Benin, Benin Republic for her degree in Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Public Administration.

 Married to Air Marshal Amao,  the marriage is blessed with three boys and one girl. Mrs. Amao is also a business woman and her hobbies include going to gym, dancing and cooking.

For NAFOWA National President, her determination to bridge the gap and reduce women dependency on the society remains her top priority.