By Pascal Oparada
Project Alert on Violence Against Women and Girls recently organised a sensitisation programme in which it brought to limelight another women rights group, Amazons Bikers Club.
Amazon Bikers Club, which joined the league of other women rights group, was founded mostly by women professionals seeking to use their vocation and passion to draw the attention of the society to “often neglected” issues about women, while Project Alert promotes and protects the rights of women and girls from all forms of violence.
The club, which was founded in 2015, has been in the forefront of women’s right. It organised a bike ride from Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire in March.
In her opening remarks at the sensitisation event, the Executive Director of Project Alert, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, said: “The reason Project Alert is partnering with a group like Amazons is because it falls in line with what Project Alert stands for, which is that the rights of women should be respected.
“There cannot be too many women rights groups in Nigeria, because the issues confronting women in Nigeria are too many.”
Also speaking at the event, Utibe-Abasi Nkanga, a polygot and one of the executive directors of the new group, said: “We plan to organise one of the biggest all-female bike rides in Nigeria.
“Apart from raising money for charity, we want also to sensitise the public on the issues of women’s rights in Nigeria. Plans are on top gear to get the support of relevant agencies, such as the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the police, health workers and other agencies in order to make it a hitch-free event.”
Another executive director, Matilda Ojulana, also a lawyer, said the Amazons evolved not to rub shoulders with men but from finding women with like passions and trying to use those passions for profitable causes.
“We found out that men look out for each,” Ojulana said. “Men will always settle their differences over a bottle of beer or over sports, but women like to compete with each other in everything. This is not healthy for any society because women have enormous resources, especially mentality. If they can channel these into profitable things, then the society will be better for it. Instead of competing among themselves, Amazons decided to pull their strengths together for something better,” she said.
