The Fading Hope for Women and NGOs in Ondo State By Sherifat Bolaji Gambo

My name is Sherifat Bolaji Gambo. I was born in Ondo State, though I have spent most of my adult life living and working in the United Kingdom. I currently serve as a senior officer with a UK-based non-governmental organization. Three years ago, our country head in Nigeria appointed me Ondo State Coordinator, choosing to base our Nigerian headquarters in the state at a time when Ondo was emerging as a growing business hub.

It was out of love for my country, and for Ondo State in particular, that I championed bringing our organization’s head office there with a clear mission: supporting women and children across the state.

Let me explain what we set out to do.
We are a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the rights, wellbeing, and opportunities of women and girls, guided by a simple belief: when women thrive, entire communities rise with them economically, socially, and politically.

Gender equality, we hold, is not only a fundamental human right but a catalyst for sustainable development. Our work sits at the intersection of education, economic empowerment, health, and safety, and our programs are built to dismantle the systemic barriers that limit women’s potential from access to quality education and healthcare to economic independence and freedom from violence.

For three years, we worked hand in hand with the Office of the First Lady of Ondo State, delivering direct services, community-based initiatives, and advocacy.

Together, we helped girls stay in school, equipped young women with vocational and entrepreneurial skills, provided survivors of gender-based violence with safe spaces and resources, and amplified women’s voices in spaces where they had long been excluded. We believed, as we still do, that lasting change comes from within communities which is why we prioritized listening to the needs identified by the First Lady’s office and building programs that were culturally grounded and locally led.

That is the office no matter the level you are as a woman you get an invitation to. Your heart lift with joy.

Despite repeated claims of women empowerment by the Ondo State Government, there are growing concerns that such opportunities are not reaching a broad and diverse range of women across the state. From my observation, empowerment programmes and intervention opportunities often appear to circulate among a selected few individuals, groups and organisations, rather than being made accessible through a transparent and inclusive process.

I noticed many established and credible NGOs working consistently with women and vulnerable groups in Ondo State are often left out, while opportunities are allegedly concentrated among familiar faces, selected groups and individuals with personal or political connections.

This raises serious questions about fairness, transparency and the true impact of women empowerment programmes in the state. Empowerment should not be treated as a system of sharing limited slots among political office holders, associates or a few preferred organisations.

If the government is genuinely committed to improving the lives of women, then opportunities must be openly communicated and made accessible to credible NGOs and women across all communities, irrespective of political affiliation or personal relationships.

Women in Ondo State deserve an empowerment system that is inclusive, transparent and capable of reaching those who truly need support, rather than one that appears to benefit only a selected few.

WOMEN of Ondo state!…. if you are reading this and true with yourselves, you will all agree with me on my opinion here today.

It is also the office , with deep sadness as they claim it has been under construction for over two (2) years, appears to unravel.

On a recent visit to the Government House, I found what was once known as a “House of Hope” for women of Ondo state now suffer visible neglect. It’s roof open to the elements, reportedly now home to snakes and lizards. I remember a different era, one not so long ago, when a call from the Office of the First Lady of Ondo state to a woman or an NGO felt like the opening of heaven’s blessings. Doors opened. Support flowed. Hope had an address.

Where has all of that gone?

What happened to turn a symbol of empowerment into a structure left to decay?

This experience is part of what drove me to return to the UK, carrying with me a deep sense of loss not just for my organization, but for the women and NGOs across Ondo State who depended on that support.

And it leaves me with one pressing question for the state’s leadership: what is Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa doing to address this significant setback for women and NGOs in Ondo State?