It was a heated and yet entertaining discussion on the Change A Life television (CAL) show. The topics discussed were all centred around violence against women and children, welfare of the girl child, and increase in the rate of sexual abuse and discussants trashed out these issues as they each saw it.
The CAL show is a yearly programme where discussants including the governor of Lagos State dissect issues that affect Nigerians. This year’s show as usual was on the first of January and it started off at 9am. The elegant host of the show, Funmi Iyanda kicked off the show by introducing the topics and explaining why women and children’s issues will be the theme of the show. She also gave a brief history lesson by talking about the Nigerian female icon, Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti. She said it is unfair to merely refer to her as the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria. She highlighted her great achievements on the political scene and how she could have been the first Nigerian Prime Minister.
The discussions proper started off with Sola Salako, Susan Eyo-Honesty, and radio presenter, Toolz and Matse. Though they all had their various views, they all agreed when Matse said that women work five times harder in their places of work, stating that they always try harder to prove that they can do the same work men do.
There was a musical interlude in-between when super star act, Yemi Alade, came on stage. She performed her hit single, ‘looking for my Johnny’. This was quickly followed by another round of discussions but this time, the group was joined by the celebrity blogger and fashion designer, Emmy Collins, who brought a male perspective to the discussions. He opined that the girl child should be taught to know that she has the same rights as a male child and this will follow her as she grows up.
The highlight of the show which was on all NTA stations was when the governor of Lagos State Babatunde Raji Fashola came on set. After rejecting the sofa offered to him the governor settled for the regular seat other discussants were also seated on. In his views, the governor acknowledged that the women are physically and physiologically disadvantaged. He said his government is doing all it can to punish offenders though there are a lot of obstacles to doing a thorough job.
He said that “capacity of law enforcers is stretched” and state police is necessary to assist the regular police to fight such crimes. He also had stern words for men who abuse women and children. “If a woman says no she means no, when she says stop you must stop,” he said. He promised that the state will keep doing its best to fight for the helpless and the oppressed.
Lagos State has been supporting the show since inception but this year, there were other supporters like Shoprite, Glaxo Smithkline, Cadbury, Viju, and Indomie. Funmi’s wardrobe was stocked by designer, Ituen Bassey while celebrity make-up artiste, Bayo Haastrup, did the make-up for all the guests and co-hosts.
About Funmi Iyanda
Funmi Iyanda is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, columnist and blogger. She produced and hosted Nigeria’s most popular and authoritative talk show New Dawn with Funmi, which aired on the national network for over eight years. Funmi is the CEO of Ignite Media, a content-driven media organization operating out of Lagos. In 2011, she was honoured as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum and was recently named one of Forbes 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa. She is also the founder of Change A Life.
An innovator in her sphere Funmi has won tremendous recognition for her work in the media and for her humanitarian and philanthropic interventions. She is an African Leadership Institute Tutu Fellow and a participant of the ASPEN Institute’s Forum for Communications and Society.
In 2012, she was honoured by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, for her commitment to gender advocacy as she returned from a five-day UN advocacy trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb was organized by the UN to raise global awareness on its campaign to End Violence Against Women and Girls and brought together climbers from more than 32 African countries in a historic advocacy journey up Mount Kilimanjaro.
About Change a Life
Change-A-Life (CAL) is a social service non-profit organization with the mission to act as a bridge between people with human, community and leadership potential yet great need and the individuals, agencies and organizations with the capacity and willingness to meet these people’s needs. The organization’s mandate is to identify the needs of people in our communities and channel our resources towards fulfilling those needs. CAL’s primary focus is capacity building. Our program delivery is channelled through educational scholarships, business grants, young adult mentoring, adult and community education, women empowerment, and civic engagement
About Yemi ALade
Yemi Eberechi Alade was born on March 13th, 1989, in Abia State, Nigeria, to Helen Alade (nee Uzoma), a business woman, and James Alade, a retired Police Commissioner. Her mother, a native of south-eastern Nigeria and her father is of south western Nigerian descent, thus earning her the moniker, that yoruba-ibo girl.
Currently at work on her yet to be titled debut album, she has made the rounds in the industry; performing on over one hundred stages across Nigeria, featuring on tracks with major acts such as Dipp, IcePrince, ELDee, M.I, Sauce Kid, Shank, Sir Shina Peters, Waje, Wizkid, Yemi Sax, to mention a few, plus working with big and budding music producers; OJB Jezreel, ELDee, E. Kelly, IBK, MajorOne, SizzlePro, DJ Klem, Bigfoot, Shadybizniz, Dtunes, Nomoreloss, world renowned South African producer; Garth, and Flip Tyce.
Yemi Alade is currently signed to Effyzzie Music Group and she recently dropped a new single titled Johnny (produced by Selebobo)
Emmy Collins
Emmy Collins is an avant-garde and versatile designer who is rapidly gaining a reputation for making garments that cut a real dash in a jaded fashion industry.
The popular designer has also become a ‘part-time’ blogger. Emmy Collins is well noted for his overly controversial write-ups, and his inclination to throw jabs at unsuspecting ‘victims’ on his blog ‘Diary by Emmy’.