Category: New Woman

Ayo Ewebiyi is an award-winning artist and performer. She is into almost all genres of art; singing and dancing, even though her dancing is passive. In addition, she writes scripts, produces plays as well as sound tracks. Some of the awards and recognitions earned include the TINA Award for best soundtrack in the movie Awodi, Bebe Musiliu and City People Media Group Yoruba cultural ambassador award. In this interview, she spoke with Adetorera Idowu about her passion and her current project which will be shot in two states in the USA.

How did you get into the arts?

I was born into a family of six, the only child of my mother and I was named Faosiyat Motunrayo. I started what I’m doing now when I was in primary school because I believe art is innate and not something you pick up when you grow up. It’s something that’s inside of you and blows when someone comes around to help you realise that dream inside you.

When I got to the University of Lagos, I studied creative arts and majored in drama. During our project, a man named Mr Lekan Oduntan asked me if I could chant and I performed it. Surprised, he asked me who taught me and I told him that it was something that was usually done in my village. That was how it all started. I never knew it was something that would be accepted.

While in the village, I would follow the Ologuns and make a mental note of everything they did and re-enact it, but now, rather than put effort into praising the orisas (deities), I learnt through my mum and guardian that there is a superior orisa greater than all of the orisas in this world and that is Olodumare (God Almighty). I take delight in praising Olodumare. This is what precipitated my first album, ‘Good morning Olodumare’. Olodumare is the one who is enraptured in mysteries and he lives inside of you, so why won’t I praise him? This is why I began my album with Oriki Olodumare, Elese Osun (The camwood legged one). My latest single is Mofayobere, because I’m starting this year on a joyful note.

What kind of genre is your music?

It falls into traditional folk art. I call it gospel folk art (GOFAR) and my band is Ayo and Alayo voices. My style of music praises Eledumare and talks about being thankful all the time. It preaches morals as well as gives a melodious tune. It is fused with western instruments and traditional voices.

What influenced your decision to go into the entertainment industry?

At a point, I was working as a computer operator. I would sit down for hours to type long documents and I never got tired because I loved it so much and I was very fast. Each time I finished my work before deadline, I would type scripts and songs and soon enough the computer memory was full. One day, my boss noticed this and advised me to resign and study theatre arts. I took it as an advice. She paid me gratuity and that took me to Unilag.

I was faced with lots of challenges, but there’s an adage that says “A road that is trodden every day, if not deserted, will become a very smooth one,” so I kept forging ahead. Today, I’m not where I want to be but I’m closer than I was. Then I went on to do jingles for corporate bodies as well as for the Lagos State government like the one that ushered in the present governor during his first tenure as well as when he wanted to recontest ewa gbo iroyin ayo (Listen to the good news). It has been a fruitful ride ever since.

What was your experience working with the late Kola Olawuyi?

It was a wonderful experience. Kolawole Olawuyi taught me to nurture, taught me to be punctual and he was also very straight forward. He treated people with respect. Though he is no more, I can’t forget the experience I had working with him. Even after his death, I worked with his wife and she also behaved the same way and is very disciplined.

How will you describe the industry as a whole?

The entertainment industry is thriving and I would say that it is not a place where you get into and you begin to say you are raised or rated according to the years you’ve spent in the industry. If you have a good idea and there is no finance for you to bring it out, it is just like an idea whose time has not come, and when the time for an idea has come, nothing can stop it.

Tell us about your current and upcoming projects

I’m a theatre practitioner and not just a singer and I have a number of things that I am working on. At the moment, I have a project which will be shot in two states in the US; one in New York and the other in Maryland and it will be titled Osunfunmi L’America. The story is about a white woman who came to Osun during the Osun festivity to record, take pictures, sell them and make money in America. So when she finally came to Osun, she met someone who told her she has been selling the pictures too and made her promise to do something for Osun.

The white woman promised to build a house for Osun but she failed to fulfil her promise and later died of a disease. Her only daughter also started seeing images of Osun in mirrors and dreams. I have also represented Nigeria at festivals of art and have recorded a number of memorable encounters. I participated in Yemoja with the national troop of Nigeria and was also part of those who took Iba to Egypt and the gods are not to blame to USA. I have represented Nigeria in different countries like Ghana, South Africa, Dubai and Cotonou.

Who are your role models?

Joke Silva and Binta Ayo Mogaji. Joke Silva is an embodiment of humility, but as a singer Hakeem Kareem is my role model.

Apart from the late Kola Olawuyi, who has the greatest influence on your life?

Professor Ahmed Yerima of the National Troupe of Nigeria. He is the only one who gave me an opportunity for auditions without any bias.

Do you have any regret as an artist?

I invited people to join me in a project and my idea was stolen and the person is now using it to make a lot of money.

 

 

It is often said that there are usually two sets of people in this world. Those who will be remembered when they leave this world for the problems they created, and those who will be remembered for the many problems they solved, the solutions they proffered for the myriads of challenges while they lived.
And as human beings, the world remains the only stage, upon which, either as bad actors, we can only fret our part and get booed out or as good actors, we interpret our roles satisfactorily and get applauded out of the dais while leaving your captive audience roaring for more.
In other words, the choice is always ours to make, either to be on the villainous or valiant side of history. For many, the latter road has often been the one less travelled or hardly taken at all. For to do so, requires strength of character, moral fibre and an angelic deportment.
For a few who dare to walk this high road, they are enormously revered, recognised and celebrated, no matter their status or standing in the society. This was what stood out so poignantly on January 3rd, this year, when Her Excellency, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke, the First Lady of Cross River State, made an addition to her years on this earth.
Opting for an austere and quiet remembrance of that unique date, a handful of friends had converged on the Imokes’ humble abode to honour and celebrate Obioma Liyel Imoke, not just because she was a year older, but, more tellingly, for what she stoutly represents- an answer to a question, a solution to a problem, a silver lining in a horrendously dark tunnel of life and a necessity in the midst of hopeless millions.
With a band of church choristers on hand to serenade the small gathering of well wishers, it was apparent that this was an occasion for a deep introspection rather than merry making.
Growing up then as a child in the 60s, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke had begun so early in life to discover the art of charity, care and compassion for the less fortunate around her. Call it her destiny, if you like. Truth is, it was a ministry she discovered on time and decided to run with it. And she has since been running with it.
The daughter of Nigeria’s first anesthesiologist, Dr. T.I. Eze-Ashi, from Illah in Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta State, Obioma who was born in Lagos in the 60s, had her secondary and university education in Enugu, then Eastern Nigeria. This allowed her a blend of two cultures, western and oriental. The assimilation of these two cultures was to later shape her outlook in her journey through life. So, she learnt, as she was growing up, never to judge human beings from this skewed prism and narrow confines. For her, culture and language may differ, humanity stays the same.
Given her romance with the Yoruba culture acquired while growing up in Lagos, with a blend of the Igbo way of life through her education in Enugu and culminating, ultimately, in her marriage to Senator Liyel Imoke from Cross River State, Mrs. Imoke can undoubtedly, run away with the epithet of a pan-Nigerian.
Like the anecdotal elephant which was captured in varied perspectives by the six blind men of Indostan, so is Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke. She is different things to different people. To some, she is a friend through whom, radiates uncommon warmth. To her husband, she is as a loving hind and pleasant roe, the wife of his youth who ravishes him with tender loving care. But to a wider spectrum of Cross Riverians, especially widows, the indigent and the abandoned children, she is a total and committed mother, who, like a pullet, must nestle her hatchlings from the harsh and inclement weather. No doubt, the First Lady embodies of all the qualities rolled into one
A committed crusader for the abandoned and the poor, a woman of charity and compassion, Obioma, while drawing on the art of giving and sharing, a strict diet on which she was delicately weaned as a child, was roused by the plight of children who not only saw their destroyed world in front of them, but children whose world was also rupturing around them, with no one to look up to, none to turn to, as they weathered through the storms and turmoil of their uncharted and uncertain future.
Even though poverty may have been alien to the First Lady, she nonetheless has an idea of its insidious effect on human psyche. To her, poverty is not just about being hungry, naked and homeless. It is much more about being unwanted, unloved and uncared for. She identifies this as the greatest poverty that can vanquish any human race.
As a rare gift to Cross Riverians including the vulnerable children, poor women and widows, Obioma Liyel Imoke is widely seen as an incandescent messenger of hope, an advocate of what it means to care and the necessity and joy of sharing the suffering of others.
Having accepted the ministry of charity as her divine lot, she has continued to play the role of a “mother to the poor,” a symbol of compassion to the homeless, a regenerated hope to the hopeless in Cross River State.
In fact, as a way of sharing in the core misery of the poorest of the poor and the very vulnerable in the state, she has, through her various mitigating and intervention efforts, rolled out quite a number of programmes and projects in order to make a difference in the lives of street and abandoned children, teenage mothers, widows and rural women, among others.
For instance, her Destiny Child Centre (DCC) is targeted at not only to rehabilitate street children in Calabar but to make them useful members of the society. Similarly, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke, to the delight of all, birthed the “Mothers Against Child Abandonment” (MACA), to help teenage girls put in the family way, but pushed out by their parents or rejected by the men responsible for their pregnancies, give birth and bring up the baby.
Under this scheme, teenage mothers go through mentoring process and taught a trade or are encouraged to go back to school upon delivery, while the baby is looked after by the centre and re-united with the mother later.
In like manner, the First Lady founded the Partnership Opportunities for Women Economic Realisation (POWER). This is one programme she initiated to change the economic status of women, especially those at the grassroots through business incubation centres, microcredit schemes channelled through cooperatives societies; encouragement to farm, sourcing markets for their produce and vocational training.
There is also what she christens “A State Fit for A Child” [ASFAC]. It is a project aimed at encouraging the youth to realise and maximise their potentials through creative activities besides learning the virtues of patriotism, good citizenship and education. It also prepares beneficiaries for adult life and how to make the best of it.

Another programme she enunciated is “Giving Life Opportunities to Widows” (GLOW). Through this strategy, widows in the state are identified, their challenges ascertained and addressed through financial and moral assistance. They are also taught vocational skills to become self reliant.
Also from the stable of Mrs. Imoke is Breath of Life. This seeks to promote community targeted approach to preventing and controlling the scourge of pneumonia in Cross River State, with the target group as children.
These intervention programmes are all dear to the First Lady’s heart because they affect lives in various ways.
But as her humanity began to resonate in the state, media attention riveted to her and before long, the world began to turn its eyes towards Mrs. Liyel Imoke and her sterling work. In recognition of the template she has set, numerous awards began to tumble in. For instance, the Miss Africa USA pageant Organisation bestowed on her the Community Empowerment Award for her relentless efforts in uplifting and empowering women and young girls in Cross River State. Her charity drew the attention of the Pageant, both of whom share similar goals and values.
Sometime last year, she was invited by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, to participate in a United Nations conference on education and was also appointed Education Ambassador by Mrs. Gordon Brown, wife of the former British Prime Minister. Her appointment as Education Ambassador was based on her role in ensuring that Cross River State children have unfettered access to education; for taking vulnerable children into resettlement homes and ensuring that each and every child was given equal opportunity to go back to school.
As she marked her scaled-down birthday penultimate week, with a coterie of her well wishers, Mrs Obioma Liyel Imoke did so with her heart going out to about 300 children at the Destiny Child Centre, with whom she and her entire family spent their Christmas.
Linus Obogo is the Personal Assistant to Governor Liyel Imoke on Research and Documentation.

THE onset of menstruation in a girl (menache) is a thing of joy for parents, especially the mother, as it marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. In Yoruba tradition, it was a usual practice to slaughter a white cock to celebrate this landmark. And for the girl concerned, it signifies the beginning of monthly blood discharge lasting between three and five days in averagely every 28 days, although this may vary from 21 to 35 days in adults and from 21 to 45 days in young teens.

It is the usual practice for mothers to counsel their daughters on what to do and what to abstain from, especially with regards to their relationships with the opposite sex in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Some mothers even go to the extent of warning their daughters not to allow men to have body contacts with them as this might lead to pregnancy. Other pertinent advice is mainly in the area of personal hygiene and the need to change their sanitary towels or tampons as frequently as every four hours depending on how heavy the flow is.

As part of their corporate social responsibilities, companies like Procter and Gamble and Wemy Industries Limited, producers of Always and Dr Brown sanitary towels respectively, go round schools to sensitise and educate adolescent girls on issues concerning puberty and how to manage their relationships with the opposite sex and in the process distribute their products freely to encourage their correct usage in order to prevent contacting infections that may affect child rearing later in life. The average age for a girl to get her first period or menstruation is 12, but in some cases it comes a lot earlier, between ages 8 and 11, and some girls get theirs as late as 15 years. During this period, estrogen level – a hormone produced in the ovaries that causes women to develop sexual and reproductive features – is very high.

In women, estrogen is produced mainly in the ovaries, but it is also produced by fat cells and the adrenal gland. The hormone is involved in the onset of puberty, playing a role in the development of secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts, and pubic and armpit hair and also helps regulate the menstrual cycle. Estrogen plays a role in bone formation, blood clotting and other body functions like that of the brain. In men, estrogen is thought to affect sperm count. Although menstruation is usually a thing of joy, but for the girl concerned, it signifies the beginning of monthly discomforts in forms of lower abdominal or waist pain, known as dysmenorrheal and heavy flow which may lead to anemia.

Menstruation, pregnancy and child rearing are often subjects of discourse, but not many people, particularly mothers, will like to discuss menopause. And it is a necessary phase which all women will pass through, whether they like it or not because menstrual flow usually lasts between ages 45 and 55 years. Most women regard the onset of menopause as a loss of womanhood because of the poor orientations they have, but rather it should be seen as a milestone which every woman must attain.

Menopause, from the root word “men”, meaning month and the Greek word “pausis” meaning cessation, literally means the end of menstruation and the time of cessation of a woman’s reproductive ability. It is an event that typically occurs in women in midlife, during their late 40s or early 50s. In addition to being defined by the state of the womb or uterus and the absence of menstrual flow, menopause can also be described as the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the ovaries, that is the production of estrogen, the ripening and release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining, and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining.

This transition is normally not sudden or abrupt. It tends to occur over a period of years, and is a consequence of biological aging known as the peri-menopausal period. It is pertinent to note that some women experience induced menopause as a result of surgery or medical treatments such as chemotherapy and pelvic radiation therapy. Loss of estrogen is believed to be the cause of many of the symptoms associated with menopause. During the menopause transition years, as the body responds to the fluctuating and dropping levels of this hormone (Estrogen), a number of signs and effects may appear, although the range and the degree to which they appear varies from person to person. While some symptoms disappear once the peri-menopause transition is completely over, others will continue after the menopause transition years.

For instance, effects that are due to low estrogen levels, for example, vaginal atrophy and skin drying, will continue after the transition years, while many effects that are caused by the extreme fluctuations in hormone levels. For example, hot flashes and mood changes usually disappear or improve significantly once the transition period is completely over. Other notable signs include, formication, that is crawling, itching or tingling skin sensation, caused by an overall drop as well as dramatic but erratic fluctuations in the estrogen and progesterone levels; psychological effects such as depression, anxiety, irritability, mood swings, lack of concentration, memory loss, poor or light sleep as well as atrophic effects such as urgency in urination. Skeletal problems that may be encountered include, back, muscle and joint pains as well as osteoporosis. Women often experience decreased libido, problems reaching orgasm during this period.

In early peri-menopausal period, it not uncommon to have some two week cycles, further into the process, it is common to skip periods for months which may be mistaken for pregnancy, and these skipped periods may be followed by a heavier flow. But as the time of last period approaches, the number of skipped periods in a row often increases.

In the post menopausal years, about 30% of women aged 50 to 59 are not just overweight but are obese which may lead to high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes due to low level of estrogen which make women to eat more and be less physically active with lower metabolic rate. Lack of estrogen may also cause the body to use starches and glucose less effectively, thus increasing fat storage and making it more difficult to lose weight. Another challenge which a woman may face in her post menopausal years that also result from estrogen loss is that of painful sex due to the dryness of the wall of the vagina. In fact, some women avoid it, while others simply tolerate it.

In order to ensure a more healthy life during this unavoidable period, it is vital to engage in regular exercises which are effective at influencing the level of total body fat. Estrogen replacement therapy is also recommended to ameliorate these symptoms. To treat the vaginal dryness, estrogen in form of cream or tablets for insertion and other forms of lubrication will help lubricate the wall of the vagina. Couple should also engage in longer foreplays as post menopausal women have problems of not achieving orgasm quickly.

Inculcation of healthy eating habits is also very important in the management of post menopausal symptoms. For instance, to guide against being overweight, consumption of fruits and vegetables should be encouraged. To guide against perceiving menopause as a loss of womanhood, it is important that girls are educated earlier about it to prepare their minds for this unavoidable milestone in their lives.

Meet America’s first woman car CEO Taking up her role as chief executive of the group behind the Corvette and the Cadillac, Mary Barra becomes the first woman to lead any major US car manufacturer

ONE of the most imposing buildings in Detroit is the General Motors headquarters, a cluster of cylinders that sits like a gargantuan desk-tidy across the way from the North American International Auto Show.

Inside, Mary Barra has developed a formidable reputation as a straight-talking perfectionist, but outside she remains a relatively low-key figure.

That is about to change, however as she takes up her role as chief executive of the group behind the Corvette and the Cadillac, becoming the first woman to lead any major US car manufacturer, let alone the country’s largest.

Smashing the so-called glass ceiling is a feat in most industries, but all the more so in the old-boys club of auto manufacturing. There are few women at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, and the vast majority that are here are models in tight dresses, hired to accessorise the polished vehicles on display.

Ms Barra does not appear keen to become another poster girl for the industry, even if it is the more cerebral sort. At the launch of its GM Colorado Chevrolet truck on Sunday evening, she said pointedly that she was proud of representing the men as well as the women of GM.

“To have this role, it is just an honour and I am humbled by it. I just want to focus on leading the team,” she said.

One source close to her added: “She’s a modest person, and she doesn’t want to waste her time on anything not relevant to the business.”.

People shouldn’t expect her to follow in the footsteps of that other female “trailblazer”, Yahoo! chief executive Marissa Mayer, by posing for the cover of Vogue, the source added.

Ms Barra is expected to focus attention on changing GM’s culture. Critics of the 106-year-old company say it has been complacent and slow-moving in recent decades, and has not iterated fast enough to keep up with newer auto companies overseas.

She will also change the company’s production process, to be more customer-centric, a source adds. “It is not about making cars that we think are the right cars, but about building the cars that customers want.”

The 52-year-old is well-equipped to lead such change. She grew up in Detroit, the heartland of America’s auto industry, as the daughter of a die-maker who worked for GM for nearly 40 years. She joined the company herself at the age of 19, combining a part-time job with university. She has scaled the ranks of GM ever since.

*Culled from Telegraph.