#WomenInPoliticsByTNN: Rising Women Icon - Adaora Onyechere for House of Assembly, Okigwe State Constituency, Imo State

#WomenInPoliticsByTNN is a Initiative geared towards spotlighting Nigerian women who are contesting for political positions and is a developmental step on our collective dream as Nigerians as the world believes in us. We are set to uphold the dreams and ideologies of politicians pre election and while in office as we encourage more female participation in politics.

On our maiden episode is a media girl and Nigeria's sweetheart, young and purposeful. Her zest and passion is uncommon and she is no other person than...(smile)

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Welcome Adaora:

Tell us about you in brief

Adaora: I am Adaora Onyechere from Imo State, precisely from Ihube in Okigwe Local Government Area.

I finished my secondary school from Owerri Girls Secondary School, majored in English at London Metropolitan University United Kingdom, and had my A levels at Irwin College Leicestershire. I served extensively during my school days as both a radio host as the vice president of the Afro Caribbean Association and the lobbyist for the student movement network.  I am also an acrylic artist. 

I am a Broadcast Journalist and a social innovation and policy development enthusiast and have worked in  several organisations as Gender News Editor for Worldview magazine London, Producer and Hosted "World in review" on Ben TV, "Africa" on Channel 4 television London and worked extensively as a volunteer for community service. I also worked with CCTV and just recently DAAR Communications Plc as broadcaster anchoring shows like Kaakaki The African Voice and also producing and hosting Gender Agenda. 

It was the experience with Gender agenda that gave me the depth into understanding the lives and happenings at the rural level, the poverty and the lacking communication between the leaders and the led. We have a long way to go unless leadership becomes altruistic.

TNN: Wow, Quite some media experience there. You have really come a long way. So what motivated you mostly to run for office in 2019?

I believe that if anyone is running for office, you should say what you want to do and they will do it. I have served and worked closely in bringing to bare the issues of the people and enhancing their voices by speaking out against injustice,  unequal opportunities, mental re-reorientation, education and women empowerment. I have taken the journey towards reaching out and engaging the under represented, the voiceless in the society.

I believe that only a true heart with an honest will to serve can enhance the lives of our people and that is why I am offering myself to come forth, serve my people, the great Okigwe at the State House of Assembly.

TNN: Commendable, we must say. What would you do differently when elected? 

I will work assiduously for a fairer funding for our rural schools and quality education in our primary schools. I will sponsor and develop bills towards Technical Education to enhance the skills and the literacy of our budding youth population of artisans, to create apprenticeship opportunities thereby building the experience of our work force.

Enhancing private, public partnerships with corporate organisations, investors and liaisons with business communities to increase internally generated revenue is another as well as birthing the realisation of a just and equitable environment through social and mental reorientation of the youths, to create a future of more positively oriented youths with discipline and value for bothering their lives and as brands for the constituency.

I'd help implement policies that will enable my mothers and sisters in Okigwe have a more enabling environment that opens up the space for trade to thrive, e.g. markets for the sales of their goods, Mills for food production and training in skills development with the enabling conditions to earn a living from those skills.

Enhancing the Health sector in consultations and Implementation  with the leaders at the center and federal level through reforms, implementation and refurbishment of the public health sector in the constituency is also my mandate.

TNN: What aspects of your state polity and governance do you think your office should lend immediate voice to?

I would say Education, Women empowerment  and Unemployment.  We need to look again at the standards of education, the curriculum and the enabling conditions for children to thrive. There are barely any libraries at the grassroots public school structures. The level of poverty also keeps most of the children from going to school as they are more preoccupied with their parents in helping to search for daily bread. 

Developing training programmes to suit the women in their comfort zones in order to accommodate their ideal passions which is more sustainable with added business start-ups through organizational /public private partnership support. 

I would create Profile Employment Centres where unemployed youths can register and be enlisted with available jobs,  training and data storage.

TNN: How has your grassroot campaign penetration been so far?

There has been Mobilization across board, meetings and engagements with community heads, women and youths as well. I have been doing a house to house campaign, engaging the women and the youths and discussing what their priorities are. I have also been talking to them about vote buying and the consequences and the need to sanitise our system by demanding that their votes count.

TNN: Remarkable Indeed! Why do you think it is important for more women to rise and take political responsibility especially like you are doing?

Women are the bed rock of development for any country both developed and developing. There is no hard or fast rule around it. It is what is and honestly without the women we will not be able to fully achieve the grand design for Nigeria. 

The capacity of women who are willing to serve should be seen as the nurturing strands for transport generational leadership, for when you empower a woman you empower a nation, she affects and influences her immediate community. If we had more women in Policy development and decision making at the grassroots we would have had 70 percent of the poverty reduced. 

The population of women across Africa is hugely determined by the ratio in Nigeria which is about 3:1, an aggregate of 40 percent. The silver lining to ending hunger and poverty is creating equal opportunities amongst the men and the women who have capacity for both roles,  more education opportunities at the lower level and across board. 

Women are the foundation and they are dedicated to a course . If we can trust women to give birth, raise children and keep the home, we should be able to trust them to lead, for they will lead with compassion, love and Integrity. We are not too weak to birth , we are not too weak to nurture so we can never be too weak to serve, lead and help decide the future of our unborn generation of girls.

TNN: Why did you choose your party, ACTION ALLIANCE?

I believe that every political party should have an ideology and that’s what the aspirants should focus on. The values and the vision of the party should be in line with the aspirants' core objective to serve. 

Action Alliance is dedicated to seeing more women with capacity main streamed into service driven roles, policy making, decision making and governance; they are dedicated to looking at development across the cadre of government from a bottom up approach. The need for Youths to have an equal platform and access to get across their vision in politics is also one major consideration. 

Some have argued the essence of a popularity  and structure of a party,  but people make the structure of a party and become the structure inevitably. It is no longer business as usual where we see parties make people but instead the quality of candidate one fields from a party has become as important. The consideration of money before vision in political parties is also becoming arguable amongst the intention of parties with true ideologies. Yes, political parties have to self fund but the driving force should be who married those that make up the party and what is the value thrust of the party.  

Action Alliance is a party that puts the interest of the masses first by aligning their mandates with the expectations of the people. I do pray that other parties just like my party will allow female aspirants who deserve to emerge to come forward and put their best forward as money politics is fast fading without good candidates.

TNN: How would you handle journalism for the period you would be serving?

Journalism is an active term and also has become part of our lives. Most people are becoming conscious of what is happening around. My main aim is to continue to create awareness, bringing the real side of the issues to the fore and focusing on finding solutions through collaboration. Journalism is Life, it’s the road map of history and the timelines of our lives, it’s the art of information gathering, fact finding and advocating for issues under reported or untold. While in office I need to work closely with the local media and also stretch out towards creating hubs for information management,  training for the youths and have more passionate people tell their own story and positively brand the community.

TNN: What about your candidature is the best selling point for getting the Vote of Ndi Imo?

I am not your traditional Politician. This is a new walkway but not entirely, because to be worried about the country and want to do something about it is to say we have to be involved in helping to look at the laws, those making the laws, the policies and the implementations. 

I wasn’t to help to do something, yes  alot of people have often asked who is your God Father and I just smile and Say God is my father, because this was a call and there has been no one sponsoring me at any level except my mental preparations,  and that of family members. As far as this is concerned, to complain, sitt and do nothing is the same thing as being responsible for the very thing you watch happening. 

I have a passion to see to it that we mainstream our youths, those with the capacity and willingness to serve, across board all over the country in different spheres,  from ICT , ENGINEERING, AGRICULTURE,  EDUCATION, SECURITY and INTELLIGENCE UNITS, MANUFACTURING, RESEARCH amongst others.

I also believe that a bottom up approach is the best way to implement the vision, the action plan and grow the economy of any country.  The people in the grassroots need a leader with a listening ear and a firm hand with a compassionate heart. 

I am, like some refer to me, a tear rubber politician, what that means - I don’t know because we all are political in nature because our very existence is carved out of  a law in Itself.

I will be able to communicate the policies and discuss with the constituents the priorities of our communities and they will be part of the decision making considerations. We need to get it right now before 2023, the journey begins now for us to emerge credible leadership models who will chart the course towards 2023. 

I believe that Ndi Igbo have what it takes to rebuild not just the nation through collective effort but also stabilise  the  South East region by human capital development, re-orientation, education, investment and international collaborations. 

We need to consolidate and put our money where our mouth is; build the trust amongst us for us to create the enabling environment for those in diaspora to come back home and synergize.

TNN: How can one contact and support your campaign?

You can go on my Instagram handle @official_Adaora or @aonyechere.

Contact:   08054358737

We would also welcome your support in any form, t-shirts, mobility support, Stationaries. You can also reach out to our fellow young people, fellow women to support Adaora Onyechere for State House of Assembly in Imo State come 2019. It will go a long way to support what we are doing for the people. Funding for women is so poor in elections and my team and I have continued to do our best.  You can also send us your token of faith to our campaign account. 

Adaora Onyechere Campaign Organization

Bank: UBA

Account Number : 102134123.