A professor of Plant Pathology in the University of Maiduguri and a gender activist, Mrs. Patricia Donli's is a woman of many parts. Professor Donli has coordinated several NGOs and has represented the Northeast geopolitical zone in many women programmes. She founded the Gender Equality, Peace and Development Center (GEPaDC) and is also the Board chair of West African Network for Peace Building (WANEP) Nigeria and Gender and Constitutional Reform Network (GECORN)WITH over 25 academic publications and several workshops and seminars to her credit, Professor Donli's vision is a world that recognizes and respects diversity. This, she believes, is the only path to world peace.'Diversity is one of the most beautiful things in the world and we have been ensuring that we use our diversity for good. Most of our work is about rights education, advocacy, changing knowledge, attitude and practice ' changing mindsets, empowering women (MDG 3).Continuing she said, 'We have also been involved in training mediators for conflict management and conflict resolution. Through our work, a bill was passed in Borno State that two of every Local Government supervisory councilors must be women. GEPaDC was at the forefront of the development of the Borno State Women's Charter of Demands in 2007 and 2011 that were used to engage gubernatorial candidates for the different political parties at a forum tagged, 'Meet the Women.' Through our intervention, some LGAs have Strategic Plans jointly developed by local governments and women and men of hitherto marginalised communities.'Commenting on the report of the Northern Zone Women Consultation on Electoral Reform in 2008, she stated that women all over Nigeria have demanded for 35 per cent affirmative action but no one seems to have paid any attention. In a similar forum in 2011 she scored Nigeria six per cent in her involvement of women in government and noted that even the most conservative countries such as Sudan have given women up to 25 per cent participation in government as against Nigeria's six per cent.She said one of her greatest challenges in the North is that of patriarchy, male supremacy and female subordination. 'Anything that brings about a change in that relationship is seen as foreign and against the culture and religion and we are seen as deviants working against the natural state of things.'Second is the lack of understanding of the people on issues of gender, especially as regards gender roles and sex roles. Thus in most of the work we do, we start with a gender training that will allay the fears of the men folk and that what we do is neither for patriarchy or matriarchy but centriarchy/complementarity ' an empowered woman is not a threat to her husband or her society but an asset.'A woman of many parts, Prof. Donli is a board member of Action Aid Nigeria and the board chair of the West African Network for Peace Building (WANEP), which has been involved in many areas of peace-building, ranging from facilitation of dialogues, early warning, humanitarian responses, active non-violence and peace education.An advocate of girl child education in the North, the Idoma-born professor said there is a major need for constant review and assessment of university education in the North bearing in mind that many of them hardly fill their admission quota.'Education in the North unfortunately has continued to lag behind than that of the south, especially where it concerns the girl child. It took a while for parents, especially in the far North to recognise the importance of education and its implications for personal and national development and this has seen the school enrolment in the North always lagging far behind that of the south.'She continued, 'I would like to comment on just Borno State where I have spent over 34 years. Girl child education is low and neglected. The reasons are not difficult to decipher: poor infrastructure, including fences that will protect young girls against nefarious activities, including rape and other gender-based violence. This combined with low community perception of the value of education has kept the rate of girl child education low. It is not surprising that the present administration has made education one of the critical areas to be tackled.'Early marriage, she said, still posed great challenge to her cause: 'Look at the northern states of Nigeria. How many of them have passed the Child Rights Law' One of the reasons for this resistance is the issue of early marriage. Even our constitution is contradictory in this aspect. On the one hand, any age below 18 years is considered a child and on the other hand, any woman who is married is considered an adult even at 12/13 years of age which is a very wrong notion to be written in the constitution.'On the issue of the appropriate period of marriage among women, she responded. 'Marriage entails a lot of responsibilities. A woman should be physically, emotionally and physiologically matured before going into a marriage. The age of adulthood is 18 years ' it is expected that at this age, the girl should have completed her secondary education, physically and physiologically matured and with some self-esteem and self-worth.'How does she cope with so much activity'Her response: 'If you have a passion for what you do, and know that in some little way, what you do is impacting positively and changing lives, then you will find the time to do them. It is all about interest and passion.'She sees the menace of terrorism in the northeast as resulting from parental failure and the failure of religion to guide the youths properly : 'I see this (terrorism) as both an issue of nurture and environment, each of them playing a major role. Neglect of children's proper upbringing and inculcation of moral values, especially at the early formative years contribute to the problem. Environmental influences including friends and mentors with negative influences are also contributing factors. Religion also comes into play. Every religion must preach religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence so that we see all of us looking at other religious groups through lenses of love rather than hatred.'A workaholic, the professor said she strikes a balance between family and career by ensuring that none of them suffers. 'I value them both and fortunately my family shares my passion for what I do,' she averred.On how best women can guide the youths early to face the challenges of unemployment and avoid their involvement in social vices, she said, 'I remember, when we were growing up, it was our mothers that spent more time with us and taught us the values of love for our neighbors, peaceful co-existence, respect for diversities. What do we see in our society now' Inculcation of hatred instead of love, emphasis of what divides us instead of the so many things that unite us, religious intolerance instead of respect and peaceful co-existence. I wonder where we are heading and what the future holds for the coming generation,' she lamented.As an educationist, the professor said the reasons behind the decline in the standard of educational are multifaceted including the use of unqualified teachers, low motivation of teachers in terms of salaries, laziness on part of students' and teachers' lack of commitment. 'Parents who show their children that hard work is not important as money can buy everything, lack of infrastructure and conducive environment...'Prof. Donli particularly dislikes it when students are lazy and are not committed to their studies and when the facilities are not there to conduct research.Apart from teaching, her other interests are youth mentoring/leadership development. Despite her charisma, the professor said her sense of style is simple and beautiful with a touch of Nigeria/Africa and a love for iro and buba any day. She uses her leisure to read and play games like basketball, volleyball, badminton. Romantic film/tearjerker are her favorites any day.Born and raised in the North, the Idoma professor who is also married to a professor is blessed with children.
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