That experience was a breakthrough for me and, having conquered that I saw the possibility of having to use my voice for the first time and then I st… - Adaora Onyechere

Getting into the field was a totally different experience and ball game. And I am like, ‘Ah ha, we have come here now, what do we do? How do we re-engage?’ Trust me, the more you look when you get into politics, the less you see, because the narratives you thought were shaping or were supposed to shape those who are in power was not the case scenario in real time.

The records show that hitherto illicit drug consumption used to be among the male youth population though expanding to now include teenage girls, young women and older married women. But to intentionally segregate the consideration to just single women even when the higher percentage of consumption is amongst men and boys shows a complete lack of appropriate gender mapping on this issue across the states in Nigeria.

Today as the social call mounts on the development of Africa, sustainability is key and requires deliberate actions such as this passion, fairness and dexterity will be my guiding charge towards ensuring the gap for women’s role is brought to the fore and activate innovations and policies that mainstream women across all sectors.