By Abiola Akiyode Afolabi
I Stand before you today not only as the Executive Chair of WARDC, but as a woman who has spent over 25years listening to women whose voices were ignored, whose pain was normalised, and whose leadership was discouraged.
The title of my speech is “Step Up and Lead.” And I want to say this clearly from the beginning: “Nigeria does not suffer from a lack of brilliant women. Nigeria suffers from a refusal to fully trust, include, and empower them.” “Step Up and Lead” is not a motivational slogan; it is a call to action grounded in lived realities.
Across Nigeria, women have consistently demonstrated competence, resilience, and leadership capacity in homes, communities, civil society, business, and public service. Yet, when leadership spaces, especially political and decision-making spaces are defined, women remain largely absent or deliberately excluded. The issue is not women’s readiness to lead. The issue is the structural, cultural, political, and psychological barriers that continue to constrain women’s leadership and participation. When Women Step Up, Nations Change: We all know the names. Ibukun Awosika. Oby Ezekwesili. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Amina Mohammed.
Ibukun Awosika stepped up in a corporate Nigeria that was deeply male-dominated. She began her career as a young entrepreneur when women were rarely taken seriously in boardrooms. She faced skepticism, exclusion, and the constant pressure to “prove herself twice over.” Yet she persisted. Through competence, integrity, and consistency, she became the first female Chair of First Bank of Nigeria, one of the country’s most powerful financial institutions. She did not just break the glass ceiling she redefined leadership as ethical, people-centred, and inclusive.
Oby Ezekwesili stepped up by choosing truth over comfort. As a former Minister of Education and later Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, she confronted corruption and inefficiency head-on. Her insistence on accountability made her unpopular in powerful circles. She paid the price for speaking truth to power politically and socially. Yet she emerged as one of Nigeria’s strongest moral voices. From the #BringBackOurGirls movement to governance reform advocacy, Oby Ezekwesili shows us that leadership is not about being liked, but about being right.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stepped up in moments of national economic crisis. As Nigeria’s Finance Minister, she pushed through debt relief negotiations and economic reforms under intense political pressure. She faced public criticism, personal attacks, and even threats. Still, she delivered results helping Nigeria secure historic debt relief. Today, as the first woman and first African Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, she stands as proof that African women can lead at the highest global levels without compromising excellence or integrity.
Amina Mohammed stepped up quietly but powerfully. As Nigeria’s former Minister of Environment and now Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, she has worked across national and global systems to advance sustainable development, climate justice, and gender equality. She navigated male-dominated international spaces with patience and strategic clarity. Her leadership reminds us that transformation does not always come with noise, sometimes it comes with persistence, coalition-building, and unwavering commitment to justice.
Justice Aloma Mukhtar stepped up within Nigeria’s judiciary one of the most conservative and hierarchical institutions in the country. In 2012, she became Nigeria’s first female Chief Justice, after decades of service marked by discipline and integrity. She inherited a judiciary facing credibility challenges and moved decisively to restore public trust, sanction judicial misconduct, and assert independence. Her leadership proved that women can lead firmly, fairly, and without fear even in the most rigid systems.
These women did not wait for society to become comfortable with women’s leadership. They stepped into spaces that were not designed for them corporate boardrooms, global financial systems, international diplomacy and they delivered excellence.
“But let us be honest with ourselves: Why do we keep celebrating the same few women?
Because for every woman who breaks through, thousands are held back by culture, violence, poverty, and silence.”
The reality of gender inequality
Gender inequality in Nigeria is not theoretical. It is lived daily in women’s bodies, homes, classrooms, and workplaces.
Nigeria is responsible for nearly 20 per cent of global maternal deaths, with an estimated 512 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (World Health Organisation [WHO], 2023). These are women who die not because solutions do not exist, but because their lives are not prioritised.
Across our universities, especially in law faculties, the very places where justice is taught, women remain severely underrepresented. Out of approximately 240 law professors in Nigeria, only 44 are women. That means fewer women shaping legal thought, mentoring students, and influencing the future of justice.
“So I ask a painful but necessary question:
Why are we seeing these things so clearly, yet failing to change them?”
Girls, education, and child marriage
Vanguard newspaper (2024). According to UNESCO, as of 2023, 129 million girls are out of school, a staggering figure that highlights the deeply rooted inequalities in educational access. The crisis is particularly alarming in sub-Saharan Africa, where cultural barriers, poverty, and insecurity disproportionately affect girls. Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world with about 10.5 million children are out of school, with more than 60 percent of them being girls. For these girls, education is often interrupted by early marriage and the pressing need to contribute to their family’s survival.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, 45.7 per cent of girls in Northern Nigeria are married before the age of 18, often marking the end of their formal education.In Northern Nigeria, many girls are still forced into child marriage, ending their education and exposing them to early pregnancy and lifelong poverty. UNICEF reports that over 44 per cent of Nigerian girls are married before the age of 18 (UNICEF, 2021). “These are not just statistics. They are futures interrupted.”
Most of these girls are in the North-East and North-West, where poverty, insecurity, child marriage, and deep-rooted gender norms continue to limit their futures. Girls from the poorest households are the least likely to return to school, often pushed instead into early marriage or domestic labour. These figures are not abstract; they are a call to conscience. When girls are kept out of school, communities lose leaders, families remain trapped in poverty, and the nation’s progress is delayed. This is where organisations like Inner Wheel must continue to step up because educating a girl is one of the most powerful acts of leadership and service.
Cultural inhibitions and the fear of women’s leadership
Let us speak honestly.Because of cultural inhibitions, it is not easy for women to step up and lead.Women are taught to endure, not to challenge.To sacrifice, not to demand.To survive quietly, not to lead boldly.
When a woman speaks out, she is called difficult.When she leads, she is questioned.When she insists on justice, she is told to be patient.But patience has cost women their lives.
To be continued tomorrow.
Dr Afolabi, the executive chair of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC)delivered this Keynote Address at the 39th Annual Conference and Rally of the National Governing Body of Inner Wheel Clubs in Nigeria.
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