By: Sangodare Ayinla (PhD )

You may wish to grasp the kernel of this piece from the below excerpt observed by the Chair, Technical Committee on Kwara State special agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Project, and Commissioner for Livestock Development, Honourable Oloruntoyosi Thomas:

“Women make up a significant portion of the agricultural workforce, yet they are often underrepresented in leadership roles, business ownership, and decision-making forums. This training, therefore, is part of our deliberate effort to change that narrative. Our goal is to equip you – our women participants – with right knowledge, leadership skills, and confidence to take charge of your roles as entrepreneurs, managers, producers, and community influences”.

There is a force in women; there is a strength in the women folks; but the social norms seem to thwart their capability. In the face of this hindrance, Governor AbdulRazaq stands to situate women in their right image through a training session organised by Kwara State Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Project.

Central to the ideology of gender sensitivity is empowering women with the power of voice. And the power of voice is birthed by the authority in the word. In society (and/or age) of high campaign against the tradition of submerging the women folks, empowerment unreels both ideologically and materially. While the ideological conviction unfolds in the form of igniting in women the relevance of advocacy or instilling confidence in them, the material aid encompasses distribution of inputs or anything that can assume their expected role in their respective societies. By this, the status of women is raised as they overcome the plethora of stereotypes earlier inhibiting their inclination and lofty ideals/wishes. Here, in the objective of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s Kwara SAPZ, is a place for bringing women above the stereotyped line – beyond the cultural cultivation and customary impediments – expressed in the metaphor of “breaking/shattering the glass ceiling”.

Kwara State Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Project is about revolutionising agriculture through agro-industrialisation envisioned for investmentattraction, wealth creation, job opportunities and enhancement of food and nutritional security. It is interesting to know that the project prioritises women and youths. Suffice it to say that prioritisation of women is an affirmation and reiteration of the conscious efforts of His Excellency to give voice to women. This is characteristic of his government especially in championing the “breaking the glass ceiling” project.

It was upon the above that Kwara SAPZ capacitated and groomed women to obtain a loud voice and exhibit the confidence in them through an engagement themed “Leadership Academy and Capacity-Building Training for Women”, which held on the 30th of April, 2025, at the Ilorin Innovation Hub, Ahmadu Bello Way, Ilorin. The participants, who were mainly women, were drawn from five local government areas (Moro, Baruteen, Kaiama, Asa, and Ifelodun), where the KW-SAPZ project (an Agro-Industrial Hub and four Agricultural Transformation Centres) will sit on. Incorporation of gender perspectives into project formulation is in tandem with the National Gender Policy (2006) and National Gender Policy Strategic Framework (2008) and other relevant policies, with a due consideration for the Islamic Development Bank’s (IsDB) Gender Policy. The Kwara SAPZ Project is a project equipped with the how-to-get-it-right-for-women mission and bring-the-women-to-the-scene agenda through the agricultural endeavour. Note that the Kwara State Government is partnering with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to execute the project, hence the reference to the bank’s Gender Policy.

In the Project Appraisal Document (PAD), the recognition of women is spelt out thus, “The Project will benefit both men and women through equitable employment and economic opportunities and will target at least 50% women participation as the Federal Government recommends. “ (Pg. 23 of IsDB PAD for SAPZ Programme). The PAD further rolls out the project’s proposed Actions for women on the project, which include: “introduction of gender-friendly and climate-smart agricultural technology; sensitization workshops for

women agricultural cooperatives and Women-led SMEs (WSMEs) on climate-smart

agricultural technologies; leadership academy and capacity building training for

women; reflection of gender responsiveness/affirmative action for equal access of

men and women to productive resources andinputs; prevention and response to

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) using the existing referral mechanisms.”

It dawned on the women participants at the occasion where they were exposed to the gimmicks required in facing the reality. Not only confronting the reality as it evolves but also articulating with confidence and courage. In their voice, in their action, gallantry should be the watchword. This philosophy of shattering the glass ceiling is expected to be imbibed in their agricultural endeavours. The population of women in agriculture is highly impressive. The Africa Gender Index (2019) affirms this when it maintains that “Women are important actors in the Nigerian agricultural sector, as female smallholder farmers constitute 70-80 percent of the agricultural labor force. They are mainly involved in small-scale production of crops and vegetables (e.g. maize, cassava, pepper, etc.), informal and primary sorting and processing, poultry, and aquaculture as well as trading.” The event of April 30th holding at the Ilorin Innovation Hub was another session of eye-opening and comprehensive edification on the new trends in agriculture. In other words, the training was educative as well as informative. The thrilling lesson from the occasion was that it offered women a tip to independence without being irresponsible to their family demands and without being belligerent to their spouses.

Governor AbdulRazaq’s food and nutritional security; and championing advocacy for women to checkmate the social anomalies that stand a threat to their progress, gender antics that obviate women from actualising their dreams depicts his responsiveness. The State Government is using the KW-SAPZ to lend women a ride to the destination of progressiveness or development. It should be recalled that the significance of the training and benefits in the KW-SAPZ Project ignited the participants’ enthusiasm. So, every woman present showed delight that the project is designed to revolutionise Agro-Industrial landscape in the state by creating enabling environment for processing, adding value to lives, job creation, and increased productivity. None, therefore, was not ready to embrace boost in productivity in terms of farm produce. Execution of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Project and the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development in the state are complementary for boosting productivity in livestock (remember KW-SAPZ Project is livestock-biased). People’s expectations are that these developments are catalysts for economic breakthrough.

Declaring the training open, the Commissioner for Livestock Development; and State Chairperson, Technical Committee of Kwara SAPZ, Hon. Oloruntoyosi Thomas, stated that the KW-SAPZ Project is a rare opportunity for Kwarans. Congratulating the participants, she urged them to embrace the project. Embracing such project will expedite its success and bring to Kwarans multifarious benefits.

She lamented though "women make up a significant portion of agricultural workforce, they are often underrepresented in leadership roles, business ownership, and decision-making forum." The Commissioner, therefore, affirmed that the training is part of the state government's deliberate efforts to change the narrative of underrepresentation of women in leadership. Describing the training as a transformative initiative, Thomas noted that the gathering was beyond “just a routine training session” because it was a bold statement of intent. While noting that the KW-SAPZ signals Governor AbdulRazaq’s unwavering commitment to gender inclusion, rural empowerment, and agricultural transformation, the Commissioner explained that the event exposed the women participants to leadership development, agribusiness management, livestock practices, cooperative building, and personal growth. She later assured the participants that “the SAPZ team will continue to support women-focused initiatives, create inclusive policies, and build platform where women’s voices are heard, respected, and acted upon.”

Likewise, the occasion was not lacking in setting for the participants icons who are to be imitated in behaviours in society. For women in the state, role models are numerous. The memory of the inclusive policies of this administration or the unprecedented consideration for women in the state cabinet is a sufficient justification. These are women that have broken the glass ceiling and are ready to teach the women folks good examples and they are exemplars of integrity, credibility and intrepidity. Addressing the participants as a role model, the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Honourable Saadat Modibo Kawu, showed delight over the timeliness of the training, stating that women's voice can refuse any suppression only if women are sensitized, enlightened and re-orientated on social dimensions.

She then called on the participants to always focus on aspiration to the peak, stressing that the training brought courage to women to be able to make change in society. The role model sensitised the participants that KW-SAPZ organised the training to lead women to achieving change by conquering stereotypes in agricultural settings at grassroots.

The State Project Coordinator, Engr. Dr. Busari Toyin Isiaka, said that the SAPZ Project is to take agriculture above subsistence practice in a way to enhance food and nutritional security. Creating a possibility not only for food availability but also nutritional security is a new page of prominence and a route to felicity for the state. Busari noted that attaining such is a manifestation of the resoluteness to tackling social problems.

He claimed that since the SAPZ project prioritises women and youths' participation, hence the need for equipping women with leadership training and the metric of communication to preclude submergence of the voice of women and any gender impediment in the process of implementation. The Coordinator added that the objective of the project is to encourage and bring to practical the campaign for gender inclusivity, stressing the need for transformation in the status quo of gender politics in this part of the world. With the SAPZ project, he noted, “Governor AbdulRazaq is communicating agricultural prosperity as well as fixing the aberrations in gender administration, applying the idiom of “breaking the glass ceiling”.

Highlighting the benefits of the project, Busari then disclosed that the project will transform the agricultural face of the state, attract investors, provide employment opportunities among others. The variety of the messages delivered at the occasion gave another sense of beautiful aura to the participants. The Resource Persons in the first session, Bar. Funke Balogun from the State Ministry of Justice; and the Executive Director, Fulfilling Dreams Foundation, Hajia Nimat Oluwatoyin Labaika, tasked women on attitudinal change for overcoming stereotypes.

In the roundtable session, Prof. Dupe Ogunbosoye of the Department of Animal Production, Fishery and Acquaculture, Kwara State University, Malete; and Dr. (Mrs.) Saadat Yetunde Yusuf of the Department of Crop Protection, University of Ilorin, engaged the participants on how their agribusiness skills can be strengthened through mentorship.

Also on ground were the representatives of the female students of Saint Anthony and Bishop Smith Secondary Schools, Ilorin. The students, along with the other participants, were taken through the strategies to surmount stereotypes, garner advocacy skills for assertiveness in society, and grip the metrics of leadership. It was another memorable moment for them to have interactions with the women Commissioners present at the occasion.

Some of the participants at the event expressed gratitude to the state government and pledged their readiness to make use of the skills garnered to boost productivity in their farm produce. They thanked the government for charging them to internalize the principles that will define for them a new system, the culture that will animate their capability and set a match between their personalities and society.

Leadership academy and capacity-building training organized by the Kwara State Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) project, just like the Commissioner for Livestock Development, Honourable Oloruntoyosi Thomas, submitted, was a testament to Governor AbdulRahamn AbdulRazaq’s belief that when women are empowered, entire communities are uplifted.” As His Excellency is resolute in “breaking the glass ceiling”, the women participants are ready to pursue the vision.

I would also like to close this piece with the Commissioner’s words, admitting that the tips delivered during the training “are not just skills; they are tools of empowerment that will help you break barriers, scale your businesses, and lead within your communities.”