Florence Ita Giwa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Florence Ita Giwa (born February 19, 1946 in Atabong, Cross River , Nigeria ) is a Nigerian politician and philanthropist .

Career

Ita Giwa was born in 1946 as the daughter of journalist Beatrice Bassey-Ita in the state of Cross River in Nigeria and grew up in Calabar . After graduating from high school, she attended the Kilburn Polytechnic Institute in London , where she graduated with a degree in nursing. She then worked in a leading position in pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria. At this time she began to get involved politically and humanitarian for the residents of the Bakassi Peninsula , who suffered from border conflicts between Nigeria and Cameroon. Her great commitment to the local population earned her the honorary name "Mama Bakassi" in the nineties.

Her work in Bakassi encouraged her to become a politician. In the late 1980s you took over the chairmanship of the National Republic Convention , the party of Ibrahim Babangida , in the state of Delta . In 1992 she was elected as a member of the House of Representatives, but lost this post a year later when Sani Abacha came to power . In 1994 it was part of the "Constituent Assembly", an organ that was set up to pass a new constitution. After the end of the military dictatorships, she was elected Senator of the State of Cross River in 1999. At this point there were only two other female MPs in the Senate. In 2003, she left the Senate, joined the PDP , and was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo to be his adviser on National Assembly affairs. With the chairmanship of the Committee for the Resettlement of Bakassi Residents, after the peninsula was finally awarded to Cameroon, she took on another special task.

In 2017, Ita Giwa revealed that donations in kind for refugees from Bakassi had been diverted from local PDP politicians. For this she was publicly criticized and, according to her own statements, threatened afterwards.

After her active political career, she returned to humanitarian work and founded the Bakassi Children Foundation. She remains committed to political goals, including the end of human trafficking and sex slavery and increasing the proportion of women in Nigerian parties. In 2019 she also opened the "Echoes of Calabar" restaurant in Lagos. She had previously run a restaurant in Calabar.

Private life

She was married to editor Dele Giwa and has two children and a grandchild.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography Florence Ita Giwa , Nigeria News Update, March 12, 2019, accessed October 13, 2019
  2. ↑ a b Spotlight Florence Ita Giwa , Njideka Agbo, The Guardian, February 19, 2019, accessed October 13, 2019
  3. ↑ a b I'm not ashamed to make mistakes - Ita Giwa , Oluremi Adeoye, Leadership, February 2, 2019, accessed October 13, 2019
  4. ↑ Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu et al., Africa at the Crossroads of Violence and Gender inequality '. The dilemma of continuity in the face of change. , AuthorHouse, Bloomington, August 14, 2018, ISBN 978-1-5462-9665-2 (sc)
  5. ↑ Why Governor Ayade wants to kill me , John Owen Nwachukwu, Daily Post, June 27, 2017, accessed October 13, 2019
  6. ↑ Florence Ita Giwa's Commitment , This Day, September 8, 2018, accessed October 13, 2019
  7. ↑ Cooking is a therapy for me , Punch, June 19, 2019, accessed October 13, 2019
  8. ↑ Senator Ita-giwa And Her Adopted Daughter Step Out In Style , Nairaland, October 20, 2015, accessed October 13, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Giwa, Florence Ita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nigerian politician and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Atabong, Cross River , Nigeria