Evangelist Oluremilekun Oluwafunmilayo Wilson, the current State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Osun State, is a woman of many parts. She had held several administrative positions, including being the former Commissioner  for Finance , as well as Information and Women Affairs in Osun State. In this interview with Yemisi Aofolaju, she speaks on parents who make their children to hawk, with little regard for education, how a career woman can keep her home, and what the NOA is doing to allay the fears of parents who oppose the posting of their children to some  parts of the country for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. Excerpts:

You are the Osun State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA). How did you get to be appointed?
I wouldn’t know. Sincerely, I did not know why people felt I should be given the assignment; all I received was just a call for my letter of appointment.

How did this happen? Where were you before you were called upon to become NOA’s state director?
I was the chairman of Rural Development, Osun State.

For how many years?
I was newly- appointed then; that was in July and in August, I received another call to go to the National Orientation Agency (NOA). This is amazing.

Were you the most outstanding woman among your peers?
No. All I can say is that till date, I still don’t know what brought about my appointment.

So, how has it been since you assumed office?
It has been very challenging, but very interesting.

How many years have you been at your current position?
Over three years.

Today, we find a lot of children who are supposed to be in school, hawking on the streets; what is your opinion on this?
Parents are the major culprits. Today, it is not uncommon to see children hawking before going to school. They, most times, misuse these children. And when they come back, they return to hawking.

Many parents no longer see the importance of schooling, but all they think about is making money. Parents should be concerned about their children acquiring knowledge, so that in the nearest future, they can be  developing the society. What most parents  are concerned about today is how they can make quick money. Although fingers are not equal, but parents must allow their children to go to school, as it is only through education that they can become something in life. In the primary school in those days, female teachers taught pupils how to knit, cook and sew while the boys were always taking to the farmland to cultivate, to know the importance of agriculture and find a means of bringing food to the table.

We have denied them of all these knowledge. The teachers on their part are no longer committed to their jobs because they have seen a senator taking billions as if that was the practice in the past.

What is NOA doing to allay the fears of parents on the issue of NYSC posting their children to some parts of the country?
Funny enough, the same thing that happened to the people in the East is similar to what is happening in the North. It has to do with the fact that the elites in the North are the problems we have in this nation. By my calculation, the elites don’t want the poor to rise, and the idea of encouraging almajiri, if not checked, will make solving the Boko-Haram issue very difficult. In the name of religion, they give the youth the impression that if they fight and die, for the course religion, they are going to heaven, but why can’t they ask their own children to go out and fight and die?  I think the youth have to tell them to bring out their own children to do the fighting. It is more of robbing the youth of their rights than religion. However I believe the government is on top of the situation. Even in the Koran and Bible, no part of the Bible says you should earn money when you are not working. If you work and  labour, with all your ability, money will come, but not sitting idly and looking for money. There was a time I asked some questions on NDE why they were not picking the almajiri up, knowing that the essence of this agency is to help those who have the ability to be in school and attain full knowledge like others, those who are naturally weak, these are the set of Nigerians NDE should assist. I now challenged what NDE is doing today for people in the North. One of the officers explained that his effort to bring in the almajiris was stalled by their religious leaders; and if their young boys don’t go a begging, there would be no money to feed and clothe them. It is from the money they extort that they and their families feed on. We need to beg the religious leaders to stop destroying these youths.

How can a career woman keep her home?
It is funny that people believe that if you are a career woman, you cannot keep your home Normally, if you have a husband, who goes to work, the children at a certain stage would be in school, then what would the woman be doing at home? After preparing meals, cleaning the house, would you sit down and watch home videos? African Magic, then you will be wasting away. It is just a way for men to have their way to pretend that we should be kept back at home to keep the home front. Ordinarily, it doesn’t cost men to accept us the way the Lord created us to be. It has nothing to do with the home front or career.  All you need is to plan your life. When you are supposed to be at work, ensure you are there. You can just decide to sacrifice by waking up before others for few hours. I think it is high time we stopped the use of housemaid. To me, the use of housemaid is more of retarding our children from attaining their freedom and future because whoever you keep at home to clean and wash, is being trained in a way. If it is a lady, she gets married to be useful and your own girl-child suffers; even the boy-child, if he happens to be in the place of work and yet to get married, he would not find things easy. Ensure you know what exactly you want, the weekend is there for you to do the planning. Definitely, career has nothing against a woman.

Do you subscribe to the saying that women are their own enemy?
Well, I don’t, because even men compete within themselves (laughs). They fight, gossip, challenge each other and on each other’s neck, why not women? We all are naturally jealous people, be it a  man or woman and that has been inherited from God because God himself is a jealous God. It is in-born in us, that we all should struggle to push everyone up, but not with evil. All you need to do is to achieve success in life. Be well-behaved wherever you find yourself, as that would earn you more respect.

What do you hammer most, when you have the opportunity of talking to your children?
I always tell them to discover and be themselves, wherever they find themselves, because, they cannot be me. They should not see me, as somebody to determine their lives.

They as individuals should know what they want and this was the same encouragement I got from my father.

How will you describe your growing up years?
Well, my father worked in the Nigerian Railways, he travelled a lot. Most of the time, I was always with my mother. Anytime, my father was around, I loved him. My mother is a tough woman and her toughness scared us from her. My father whenever around was always friendly. One thing, I appreciate about him was that anytime we did anything wrong he would let us know that we were wrong and also tell us that our mother was right. So he succeeded in creating a balance with our mother. Anytime, we complained about our mum, he shut us up. It was good to avoid the beating of my father. When he beat, he did so thoroughly, but get to buy you a present and spoil you a little afterwards. He would always emphasise the reason why, he had to do what he did.

When growing up, what was your childhood dream?
I wanted to be a lawyer. I had the opportunity to be, but then, my parents were scared, because to become a lawyer then, you needed to belong to a cult, so I was discouraged. I later wanted to study business administration, but my father again discouraged me. I was tutored, that as a woman, I would need a job that would keep me at home. Without my knowledge, they obtained a form for me to be a grade two teacher, to ensure that I’m in the classroom. With the support of my maternal uncle they paddled me to NCE and when I had my way and met with another uncle of mine, Demola Omoniyi I told him that I didn’t want to go back to the classroom, he then fixed me up with the Bible Society to Nigeria and United Bible Society.

Later on, I was given appointment as the Executive Secretary for Local Government Authorities. Before then, I got a brief stay in 1976 with P and T (Post Telecommunications).
Later, I was appointed the zonal coordinator of the South West zone, by Professor Ben Nwabueze the then secretary of the Education to work on the establishment of NBEC at the national level. I never rested on my oars as I always augment what I earn from other things I do. I am a contractor and I have a beauty salon.

Till Date?
Yes. I also have a farm. I am also a caterer, I do bit of nylon cutting and interior decoration. It will interest you that I am a cocoa farmer.

And you studied education?
Yes. I was once a teacher. It is a good experience of life. My mother opened me to be very industrious because she owned a provision shop when we were in Offa. I could say that my knack for industry was one of the things I picked from my mother.

Where are you from?
I am from Ilobu.

How old are you?
I’m just about 56.

And your children?
They are fine, a girl and two boys

What do you think is responsible for your success so far?
I think it is morals, the interest in Bible reading. Our father introduced us to Bible reading while we were young in the morning and night. He was always telling us stories from the Bible and he kept encouraging us that we can be whatever we want to be if we know ourselves. My father greatly inspired me; he always told us the truth and always hammered that we must not lie.

When the appointments were coming without expectation was your husband never threatenened?
Well, it is definitely true that such things would definitely threaten any man.

What is that nugget you have for women?
Ensure that the girl-child is educated, ensure they are qualified for the certificate they are holding. This is the only instrument that will can give us edge in the midst of men. If we attain this, before you know it, we will be in places that can never be challenged.

As women, we should be ready to humble ourselves before men because culturally, they are favoured to be leaders, religiously, God created them before us, we should  give them the recognition that they are there. That will give us easy passage in areas where they think only belongs to them. Initially in the 50s, 60s no woman dared attempt to study engineering, medicine, even law. It was the belief then that these courses should be for men and no go areas for women. In medical line, they would appreciate if you are a nurse while men go for medicine. Whereas these days, women are coming up as medical doctors, lecturers even vice chancellors. All we need to do is to build ourselves up to be able to compete positively with the male counterpart and be ready to exhibit humility.

If we exhibit humility, before we know it, the men would even be running after us. We don’t have to challenge them with force. Already they have it in their head that they are the head, leave them as the heads as they are by the word of the Lord, gradually I am sure women in this nation would become president one day.

What word describes you most?
Naturally, I know I am a bit tough, but I can weather any storm. I don’t give up easily on things that I believe in and I strongly believe in honesty. As much as possible, I like people who are forthright. I also like creativity and people who find the means of developing the nation. I love the people who see the need for us as a people to be productive.

How do you have time for all these enterprises
I have people who work for me. Actually, when I discover those to be developed, I hand them over to my employees. Most of the business concerns have been handed over and I don’t ask after anything from them. But my farmland is where I spend most of my weekends.

Your role model?
God first, then my father.