Losing her mum at an early age made Daba Obioha feel seeking refuge in a nunnery could shield her from the harsh realities of life but fate had other plans for her. With a strict father who moulded her through hard work, discipline and perseverance, she was able to weather the storm. She discovered along the line innate talents, which she brought forth to enhance her life. The one-time journalist and former General Manager of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is currently the President of River Bayelsa Women Association and a member, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party South South Forum in Lagos State. She told OLUWAKEMI AJANI recently that women need to close ranks to attain leadership positions in various spheres of life.

Background

I am from Rivers State. I had my tertiary education at Howard University Washington D.C where I studied mass communication. I conducted series of interviews when I was young. I travelled for a while and when I returned, I worked with Punch Newspapers briefly. I was the then Editor of Happy Home in the Punch Newspapers.

I did my Youth Service in Jos and there were a lot of robbery incidents then. My house was attacked and so I applied for a transfer to finish in Lagos at NTA Lagos. It was after that I worked with the Punch Newspapers. I left and then worked with NNPC, the Public Relations department precisely. I joined NNPC in 1990 and left in 2011.

In between, I used to produce television programmes. With time, I branched out into film production. Legacy was the name of the series I was running then. I had people like Richard Mofe Damijo working with me. As a matter of fact, I introduced him to the industry and he was my lead character. There were also Fred Amata and Kanayo O. Kanayo. They all featured in the series and some of them are still keeping in touch Basically, I worked with NNPC as a Public Relations Officer and then moved on to administration before I retired.

Upbringing

My father is a very strict man in Abonima where we hail from. Though he was not a poor but he was very strict and this had done a lot of good in my life in terms of my being able to keep a home and being disciplined. I am extremely disciplined although I am trying to relax now because you cannot judge the world by your standards alone. People have different kinds of standards and may not like the idea of others imposing on them their own standards.

For instance, by the time I was 10 years old, I had learned how to set the table, I mean the English way. I had also learned how to make bed because my father ran a polygamous family and you just had to know all these things. We were like stewards at home and the older children cooked. You would think that we were not his children.

I remember that my immediate elder sister is very militant; she would fight but I used to shy away and my father would say ‘I am training you’ and we would ask him why he wouldn’t train his wife; why we had to be the ones doing such chores as making his bed and cleaning the house generally.

In those days, people used wooden chairs and furniture. If my father came home then and saw a speck of dust, he would use my finger to mop it. So, it was a bit rigid and sometimes I used to wonder if he really loved me as his child.

But I see the benefits of such upbringing now and if you ask me whether I treat my kids that way, I’ll tell you today’s children won’t take it. But that was the kind of upbringing I had and though it might seem a little bit tough it has numerous advantages.

Childhood dreams

I don’t really know because I lost my mum when I was nine years old. That was very traumatic for me and maybe that affected me a lot. I know I never wanted to be a doctor or nurse or some such thing. The only thing I desired to be was a nun because the world seemed tough. So I needed a shelter, a place where I could be protected. That was the only thing that occurred to me then. But I am what I am today through focus and uprightness.

Women and politics

Women are lagging behind when it comes to holding political offices. We need to get women involved to motivate others. To me, politics is not dirty; it is people that make it dirty. You can’t fight a disease from outside; you have to get in there and uproot it.

If all the good people run away from politics then politics will be left for the bad people. I don’t like people complaining and not doing anything about the situation. What are we doing, those of us who think we can get in there and do something better? What are we saying if we cannot bring sanity to what we think is sick?

I am not a second-class citizen. Women generally are not second-class citizens. However, in any situation people   should not expect things to be given to them on a platter of gold. I have never done that in my life, as I have always fought for what I believe in. I have never got anything on a platter of gold.

Even in the industry where I served for so many years, it was a battle for women working with NNPC to attain certain level but I don’t want to go into that. There was a time women thought they couldn’t go beyond certain level but we are breaking bounds not just because we are women. In the public affairs department where I served, women did so much better and had to do double of what was required not because we are women but because we are doing what we are supposed to do.

If men feel that in the work place they are supposed to be paid better I can understand where they are coming from because we are women and the traditional belief is that a woman stays at home caring for the children while the man brings home the money. But the trend is changing and I don’t want a situation where women expect people to give them any extra respect or privileges just because they are women. No, I don’t think so because the perception is changing fast.

On women attaining top political posts such as governorship

Women should struggle for power but the problem is economy. The husband may not empower a woman because she wants to go into politics. Women are backward financially because we have been homemakers in the past.

If women don’t have money it might be difficult to achieve desired goals in politics. Women are intelligent but because politics has to do with capacity and economy empowerment, they might not go far. Nobody is ready to empower women because men want the offices so they are not going to empower women.

It will take time for women to gain the time and amount of wealth the men have because they have been at the forefront in the work place. This is one of the many factors militating against women attaining high position more so when men don’t want women in those areas.

If you want to take an office from somebody, you need to what it takes to get to such. The solution lies in women going into mainstream politics.

Women achieving desired goals

They can do this by getting together. We have brain washed to think that women cannot get along in such positions but it is a lie. All the battles in the different political parties in Nigeria, are they caused by women? No, but you and I have been brain washed that we don’t like one another and even in the work place, women don’t like working with other women. I think though that some women who are lazy and who don’t want to work believe they can use their feminine guiles to blindfold men. Of course, hard working, focused women won’t buy such idea.

Women need to get together. Men sponsor men but women don’t sponsor women. If you read the pages of the dailies, you will see elder statesmen who have sponsored other people and have thereby become godfathers. Have you ever seen a woman sponsoring another woman? So, women need to give other people room and appreciate the qualities and skills of other women who have something to offer.

Present activities

I am trying to see if I can get back to film production and I am also looking at politics because a lot of people have said to me there are not enough women in Rivers State’s politics. Politics is an activity meant to achieve some administrative goals and on its own, it is not dirty. Many people say Nigeria is a corrupt country but Nigeria as it stands is not corrupt, it is people within Nigeria that have made corruption the order of the day.

Nigeria is a very versatile and beautiful country and if people do things rightly politics wont be a dirty but peaceful game. If only people are open-minded and are not greedy and corrupt, it would have been a different thing.

If a party is working on an ideology but the members are working to steal money or grab something then politics become dirty.

Future plans

I want to mobilise more people. Presently, I am the President of River Bayelsa Association and I think that is a platform. The association has been on for the past 25 years. Sometimes ago, I organised a workshop for the association bringing people together to talk about our issues.

The challenges before the state and the region as a whole, is lack of economic, social, traditional and political leadership. I think we are still facing that problem. Another problem that the region is facing is that we are basically republican. We don’t have a hierarchical structure and respect so everybody is a chief in his own house. Nobody calls anybody to order; nobody sponsors anybody. But when we begin to recognise that we need some level of organised structures to survive in the polity of Nigeria, we’ll make much progress.

Women should empower themselves economically. We must learn to earn our own money. My personal opinion is that some women are afraid of making money. Women should learn to make money and invest their resources in an area that will give them dignity.

For instance, the women in Balogun Market make so much money but they are the first to tell other women not to go into politics because it is a dirty game. But then they sit and complain that we don’t have good hospitals; that the children are dying because there is no food. But who is going to make these changes for them?

When men want to campaign, they make use of the women and give them as little as N1000. Men continuously make use of women to liberate themselves. Women too should look out for one another to fight the marginalisation.

Combining home and career

That is simple because if a woman has succeeded in managing a home for many years, she can manage it even with eyes closed. My children have all grown now so, I don’t have that problem. Right now I live alone. I am not living with Mr. Obioha.

Advice for women

They should rise up to challenges. Nigeria is not doing well presently. We don’t have good hospitals, good schools and so on. It is not that we can’t be better it is just that bad people have been there for too long and we seem unable to harness our resources to move the country forward. But it shouldn’t be so because we have all it takes to build a good country.

People may be trying but when you look around, there is really nothing positive we can point at right now. For instance, people go into politics just to grab money and nobody asks questions because we are afraid to do so. But if women don’t ask questions, then what happens to our children? What do we leave for them? Women should not be afraid to ask questions concerning our nation’s resources.

Fashion

I don’t follow trend. I wear what is comfortable for me at any point in time. Of course, I usually dress as the occasion demands.

Leisure

I love watching films and I sing a lot.