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| Interview been entrenched in me and acknowledged by other people even though I still believe that I am work in progress in that area. This value and others came from my parents because I saw how they related with people across social strata, gender, religion and tribe with love, honor, respect, compassion and empathy. I also learnt from my parents to give to the less privileged and this has become second nature to me because we did this together as a family from when I was very young. My kind and gentle nature is also a byproduct of being raised by and observing them. So, in essence, my family and parents prepared me for this role. In the same way, I also see how children pick things like a sponge and an example is the way my daughter is literally able to mimic me and my exact voice at just six years old especially when dresses like me (laughs). Therefore, children pick the values that their parents portray not what the parents desire. So, we parents need to first embody the values we seek to transfer to our children. In terms of the skills a woman needs for this kind of role, I think humility is key especially because of the state of the society we are in. Even though its great and important to stand up for your rights, we need to be as gentle as a dove and embrace our innate femininity with all humility. We shouldn’t seek to “compete” with men by behaving “manly”. I also believe we need to uphold compassion for our fellow human beings and the people we’re leading as I see it as one of the greatest keys to wisdom. This is because leadership is servanthood before it requires direction. These values are very critical for a woman in a position of authority. What are your thoughts on the importance of having more women in politics and the process for achieving the same? How can you describe the Nigerian government’s efforts so far to facilitate this considering decisions like its recent rejection of the bill on gender equality? Also, what should the government do differently to encourage more women to participate in politics? I’ll start from the last part of the question. The government is the people and the people is the government so sometimes when we say “government” we transfer responsibility to our idea of an organization called the government. In actual fact, we are the government. Therefore, I believe that from the micro-levels of families and schools we need to teach the girls that they have a voice and their opinions as well as contributions to the society beyond childbearing matters, right unto the mid-levels like the workplace where women should be properly trained and given equal opportunities such as access to promotions without having to sell themselves, and then at macro-levels like the national platforms where women should be brought on for ministerial and other leadership positions. There is a saying that “no one can realize your value apart from you”. It means we need to understand our value because people will treat you as good or bad as you let them treat you. From my experience working in the public sector at NIMASA, the most critical persons of women in government are women themselves i.e. by “one of my core objectives during this reign is the empowerment of girls and especially women in our rural communities.” pushing other women down. Therefore, the minority women in government now should make space for other women to come up by mentoring, promoting and encouraging them. This is because when we start seeing the value of ourselves as women, our fellow brothers in government will respond to that and react the same way genuinely. We understand that you have a desire for each life in the Warri Kingdom to be worth a life in Washington DC, what does this mean in practical terms and what are the possible ways for achieving that? As we know, no country values the lives of its citizens more than America and it’s not because their body parts are worth more than ours but because they have a desire to improve the quality of life of their citizens and they attach value to human life. These two motivations are intertwined because when you value human life, you will want to improve the quality of life of your people. I believe this is what I meant when I said “…Until one life in the Warri Kingdom is worth the same as a life in Washington DC..”. It means that until we really begin to see value of our people and the quality of life that they require from basic amenities like water and light to roads and schools, we still have a lot of work to do. In essence, we are committed to empowering the people. Having grown up in a wealthy family and being a wealthy person yourself, what can you say are the fundamental principles of thriving financially without having to sacrifice crucial things that matter? The first and foremost thing will be trust in God. This is because when it comes to wealth building, the journey is filled with ups and downs. Therefore, you need trust and faith in God as an anchor. The second principle will be diligence, the Bible says a man diligent in his works will stand before kings so we should not look down on the little seed in our hands because we are comparing ourselves to others or because we are just despising our little beginnings. Also, I mean diligence in all its forms including accountability and building wealth according to pattern. The third principle will be INTEGRITY! – I can’t overemphasize this. The fourth principle will have to be perseverance and being true to your assignment such that you do not give up. I saw all four principles serve as cardinal points in my father. For example, one of his major prayer 10 June 12, 2022
Interview | points was to ask God to keep him away from any business that will put him in trouble and get him out of God’s will. Low and behold, we saw this play out several times such that other people that carried on with businesses he ‘lost’ out on ended up in trouble. I believe these are the four cardinal points for a wealthy and balanced person. What is your fondest memory of your Dad and why? Just before my sixteen birthday and while I was in boarding school in England, I asked my Dad if I could have dinner. He responded saying he was busy, couldn’t afford it and that I should focus on my studies. Then on my birthday, my Dad travels all the way to England and shows up to surprise me with a set of diamonds as well as takes me out to dinner with my friends. This meant a lot to me because he made time out of his very busy schedule and this was the kind of stuff he did for me but this particular experience will always be precious to me because of the amazing gift he gave me and the sacrifice of his time. Why is it important for a woman to be financially empowered? What will you call the most important skills women need to embrace to financially empower themselves? There is a saying that “when you empower a woman, you empower the whole world”. This is because when a woman is financially stable, it just cascades down to children, the family, society and everybody else. Therefore, one of my core objectives during this reign is the empowerment of girls and especially women in our rural communities because they are the ones primarily responsible for the children. I think women need to embrace a lot of financial literacy which goes beyond the saving aspect which is largely given because Nigerian women are very industrious and are not lazy. However, we need to help these women to upscale their businesses such that they can begin to export beyond their local environment and even the shores of Nigeria. Of course, this will require training in areas like branding and investment. I currently work with one of the women cooperatives in our local community and we have injected sizable amounts of money into that cooperative and this serves as capital to the members who rotate investing the money and returning it back to the cooperative. We did this because women empowering women is the most effective means of empowerment. Finally, whatever profit has been made from the bulk investment will be used to open an investment fund no matter how small, just to teach them about financial literacy which is the way to make long lasting wealth beyond saving. With your focus on leveraging agriculture to promote societal development, can you describe how practicable and sustainable these propositions are, especially in terms of creating wealth for the people? What other projects are dear to your heart for the Kingdom? They are very practicable especially given our terrain. For example, some of the new agricultural initiatives we are introducing involve creating learning institutes for women i.e., creating a skills hub with our foundation and using that to then train them across the agricultural value chain such that their products and value offerings are diversified and sustainable. We also employ them to work with us to put their best skills to use. The two things my husband and I stand for are education and empowerment, so we use these two to drive all our initiatives such as agriculture, restoration of arts in the Warri kingdom, using media to tell the Itsekiri story and re-ignite its identity, and health care initiatives (and we are not doing all these alone). How are you funding your social impact projects? The wealth of relationships cannot be overemphasized. Most of the funding we are currently getting especially for some of my projects such as the Wuwu Ore health care outreach program that I do quarterly has been funded by well-meaning individuals in the past eight months since we started even though we hope to galvanize corporate sponsorship in the years to come. So, our projects are currently mostly funded by collaborative opportunities with individuals within the kingdom. What books on finance and leadership have impacted you the most and why? Do you have any role models or women of monarchy that you have learnt from? The Bible is the best book on finance if you read it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Supplementary books that I have read are keys to heaven’s economy by Shawn Bolz and secrets of Jewish wealth revealed by Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn. The Holy Spirit actually told me the name of the second book and asked me to read it in 2019. Before then, I never knew it existed and I’ve found it to be a great book. As we know, Jewish people are one of the wealthiest people in the world and there are practices or principles they engage in. Michelle Obama is not a monarch, but she is a woman that has had great influence on me. I also love the queen of Jordan, Rania Al-Abdullah because she is really passionate about fighting for the rights of women and children, providing access to education and addressing environmental concerns. I also really love what Sheika Moza Bint Nasser Al-Missned (former Emir of the state of Qatar and co-founder of the Qatar foundation) is doing with education. Also, even though Princess Diana is dead, she is another monarch that I really looked up to because of how passionate she was as woman leader. I believe she was a woman that was born way ahead of her time. What is the toughest challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it? Finding my voice and allowing my voice to be heard. This is because I grew up as a people pleaser and always wanted to conform to being accepted and acceptable to everyone that I cared about, all the while knowing that there was brilliance and absolute greatness on the inside of me. For example, as a young girl, I always wanted to be a diplomat even though my father discouraged that because of his thoughts on the demands that come with building a home. So, I lived my life in the passenger’s seat while others took the driver’s seat with their opinions. Therefore, one of the toughest challenges I had was allowing myself to be me and shine. This process took a lot of prayer, self-improvement and development as well as leaning on God’s faith in me and deciding that I am going to be the person that I was born to be. This required a lot of diligent reading, introspection, training and various forms of investment in myself to ensure I developed and became this amazing person that I always knew was inside me. June 12, 2022 11
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