Yearly Archives: 2026

 

UNESCO REF MEDIA CENTRE | NEWS

Osun becomes the first sub-national government in Nigeria to implement the professional advancement programme for women with disabilities, a model set to scale to 120,000 women nationally and to all 54 African nations by 2030.

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Osogbo, Nigeria | 16 October 2026

OSOGBO, Nigeria, 16 October 2026. The Government of Osun State has entered into partnership with the Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF), to pilot The VOICE Initiative in Nigeria. With this partnership, Osun State becomes the first sub-national government in the Federation to implement the Initiative, a professional advancement programme that prepares women with disabilities for dignified, independent and financially sustainable employment in the global digital economy.

The State has mobilised its first cohort of 64 women for Phase 1 of the pilot, with a second cohort to follow in Phase 2. Data verification for the Phase 1 cohort begins on 21 October 2026, to be followed by a virtual orientation, a three-week induction and the six-week programme itself.

A commitment to every citizen

Un engagement envers chaque citoyen

Speaking for the Osun State Government, Hon. Bankole Omisore, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on the Sustainable Development Goals, said the partnership reflects the priorities of the administration.

He stated that The VOICE Initiative aligns with the commitment and vision of His Excellency, Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, to ensure that every citizen of the State is well cared for.

The Initiative was launched on 1 October 2026 in commemoration of Nigeria’s Independence Anniversary, and Osun State serves as its official partner and first pilot state. The standard set in Osun will guide the national and continental rollout.

Two generations, one intervention

Deux générations, une seule intervention

The President of UNESCO REF, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, described the Initiative as an investment that reaches beyond the women enrolled.

“This programme is about two generations, through one intervention. When we equip a mother with a disability to earn a dignified income, we protect the schooling of her children. Our parents and our out-of-school children are not two separate challenges. They are one story, and The VOICE Initiative addresses both at once. Osun State has shown the courage to lead, and in doing so it has become the model for every other State of the Federation.”

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, President, UNESCO REF

The design rests on established research. Research cited by UNESCO REF finds that parental disability reduces children’s school attendance, with a larger effect where the mother has the disability, and that income controlled by women is more often spent on children’s welfare. Nigeria has an estimated 20 million out-of-school children and youth, according to data published by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Global Education Monitoring Report.

The programme and its return to Government

Le programme et ses retombées pour le Gouvernement

The first course under the Initiative, AI Innovation and Digital Enterprise (TIER I), is delivered fully online through The Lichfield Academy over six weeks and 78 lessons. It is open to women with disabilities aged 18 and above who hold a first degree or its equivalent in any discipline, and requires no prior background in technology. The programme is built around a single outcome: that each graduate secures remote employment, locally or internationally, in the digital economy.

According to UNESCO REF, the Initiative is not a welfare scheme but a fiscal instrument that returns value to the public purse. Its projected benefits to Government include:

• No cost to Government. Training is fully funded by UNESCO REF through its Educational Financial Facility Scheme (EFFS), at no cost to the State or Federal Government.
• Personal income tax. Each Fellow in formal employment contributes to the tax base under the progressive rates of the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025.
• Value Added Tax. Household spending by employed Fellows generates VAT revenue.
• Local multiplier. Income earned, often from international employers, is spent within the State economy and circulates through local businesses.
• Recovered productivity. The International Labour Organization estimates that low- and middle-income countries lose between 3 and 7 per cent of GDP through the exclusion of persons with disabilities from work.
• Human security. A 2023 UNDP study found that about a quarter of voluntary recruits to violent extremist groups cited job opportunities as their main reason for joining. Dignified employment strengthens households and communities against that risk.

Full details of the programme, its curriculum and its policy papers are available on The VOICE Initiative page.

Global alignment

Alignement mondial

An estimated 1.3 billion people, or 16 per cent of the world’s population, experience significant disability, according to the World Health Organization. The VOICE Initiative responds directly to the international and national commitments that address their inclusion.

Framework	Provision	How The VOICE Initiative responds
SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities (primary)	Target 10.2: social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of disability or sex	Moves women with disabilities into the formal digital economy
SDG 8, Decent Work	Target 8.5: full and productive employment for all, including persons with disabilities	Built around one outcome: remote employment for every graduate
SDG 4, Quality Education	Target 4.5: equal access to education for persons with disabilities	Fully funded, accessible professional training
SDG 5, Gender Equality	Women’s full participation in economic life	Serves women exclusively
SDG 1, 16 and 17	No poverty; peace and strong institutions; partnerships	Household income, human security, and a State and civil society partnership
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	Article 6 (women with disabilities), Article 24 (education), Article 27 (work and employment)	Equal access to skills and to work for women with disabilities
Maputo Protocol	Article 23: protection of women with disabilities	Economic empowerment of women with disabilities
African Union Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, 2018	Rights to education and to work	Continental rollout to all 54 African nations by 2030
Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 (Nigeria)	Inclusion of persons with disabilities in education and employment	State-level implementation, beginning in Osun

From Osun to Africa

D’Osun à l’Afrique

The Osun pilot opens a four-year programme running from 2026 to 2030. National upscaling to 120,000 women, 20,000 in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, is targeted for 2027 and will be led by Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, Strategic Ambassador for UNESCO REF SIP-ALPHA. The Initiative will then extend to ECOWAS member states in 2028 and to all 54 African nations by 2030.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Notes aux rédactions

About The VOICE Initiative. The VOICE Initiative (Visionary, Outcomes-Driven AI for Inclusion, Capacity for Empowerment) is a professional advancement programme for women with disabilities in Nigeria and Africa, established by UNESCO REF under its SIP-ALPHA framework. Its first course, AI Innovation and Digital Enterprise (TIER I), is delivered through The Lichfield Academy. Partners include The Lichfield Partners and Associates, the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development, the Women Development Centre FCT, the UNESCO National Commission Nigeria and NEPAD_EY. Full details: unesco-ref.org/the-voice-initiative.

About UNESCO REF. The Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) works to strengthen human and institutional capacity across Nigeria and Africa through education, research and professional development, in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected],

Sources

Sources

• The VOICE Initiative, UNESCO REF
• Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities, World Health Organization, 2022
• UNESCO: Estimated number of out-of-school children in Nigeria now 20m, ThisDay, 2 September 2022
• Exclusion carries high costs for individuals and economies alike, International Labour Organization, 23 September 2013
• Lack of jobs, the main driver of violent extremism in sub-Saharan Africa, UN News, February 2023, on the UNDP report Journey to Extremism in Africa
• Bankole Omisore, the powers behind the growing successes of Gov Adeleke, ThisDay, 19 November 2023

NAOWA President Accepts Appointment as Strategic Ambassador for UNESCO REF SIP-ALPHA

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Institutional Partnership

Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, 25th President of the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA), brings six decades of grassroots presence into the UNESCO REF Strategic Intervention Programmes for Accelerated Learning and Productive Human Asset (SIP-ALPHA), aligned with the 2030 Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

UNESCO REF Media Centre | Abuja, Nigeria | 17 October 2026 | Ref: UNESCO REF/MEDIA/2026/NAOWA SIP ALPHA AMB 01

ABUJA, Nigeria, 17 October 2026. The Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) announces that Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, 25th President of the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA) and wife of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has formally accepted her nomination as Strategic Ambassador for the UNESCO REF Strategic Intervention Programmes for Accelerated Learning and Productive Human Asset (SIP-ALPHA) in Nigeria.

The acceptance was conveyed by official correspondence dated 28 July 2026, under NAOWA reference NAOWA/NAT/G1/300/63. It is a considered institutional decision, taken, in Dr Shaibu’s own words, after having “carefully considered the objectives, scope and strategic vision of the SIP-ALPHA Initiative.”

The woman behind the mandate

La femme derrière le mandat

At her first Executive Meeting as 25th President of NAOWA, held in Abuja in February 2026, Dr Shaibu set out the principle that has guided her tenure: “When a woman is empowered, a family is strengthened; when families are stable, the military community is stronger.” She reminded members that the association was built on service and sacrifice, and that its decisions would affect thousands of families across formations and commands nationwide.

Her record since then reflects that conviction. Under her leadership, NAOWA has inaugurated new schools in Zaria, Badagry and at Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks in Abuja, begun construction of primary and secondary schools at Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks, and organised the 2026 NAOWA 21st Century Teacher Transformation Training. Its Youth Empowerment Project has trained 394 young people in ICT and fashion design, and more than 15,000 relief packages have reached members, widows and places of worship.

The institution she leads

L’institution qu’elle dirige

NAOWA began in the 1950s as the Army Wives Association and took its present name in 1963. For more than six decades it has operated community health centres, schools, day-care centres, skills acquisition and vocational centres and the Girl Child Education Programme, across a network that follows the Nigerian Army into garrison towns throughout the Federation.

It reaches communities where institutional presence is often thin, and it does so as a non-governmental organisation that receives no subvention from federal or state government. Scholars of Nigerian civil society have described it as the most powerful women’s organisation in the country.

The home front and the national mandate

Le front intérieur et le mandat national

Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu was appointed Chief of Army Staff by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 30 October 2025. A field commander whose career spans counter-insurgency operations in the North East, he received the Service and Sacrifice Award at the 2026 Armed Forces Celebration and Remembrance Day ceremony at the State House, Abuja.

Behind every theatre of operations is a home front, and behind every soldier is a family sustained by sacrifice. Dr Shaibu has lived that reality. Her decision to commit NAOWA’s network to a development framework aligned with the United Nations agenda carries the lived experience of military families across the Federation.

A convergence of two institutions

La convergence de deux institutions

The road to the appointment began on 18 May 2026, when the President of UNESCO REF, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, held a high-level consultative engagement with Dr Shaibu at NAOWA headquarters in Abuja. The meeting examined institutional pathways for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria through the SIP-ALPHA framework.

Two institutions met. One brought seventeen years of multi-sectoral development architecture, through which, according to UNESCO REF, 1.2 million Nigerian youths have been mobilised. The other brought six decades of grassroots presence and community trust earned through consistent service. Each recognised in the other what neither possessed alone. On 28 July 2026, the conversation became a formal institutional covenant.

In her own words

Dans ses propres mots

“Having carefully considered the objectives, scope and strategic vision of the SIP-ALPHA Initiative, particularly its alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063, I further recognise its strong emphasis on sustainable development, food security, education, youth advancement, health resilience and community empowerment. It is therefore with great pleasure that I formally accept this nomination and appointment as Strategic Ambassador for SIP-ALPHA.

I look forward to collaborating closely with UNESCO REF, development partners and other relevant stakeholders in achieving the objectives of SIP-ALPHA for the benefit of our nation and future generations.”

Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu, 25th President, Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association, Abuja, 28 July 2026

The UNESCO REF President responds

La réponse du Président de l’UNESCO REF

“Dr Safiyyah Hassan Shaibu’s formal acceptance of this nomination is one of the most consequential institutional developments in UNESCO REF’s seventeen-year history. NAOWA does not lend its name; it lends its capacity, its networks and its communities. As Strategic Ambassador for SIP-ALPHA, she brings to our framework the institutional discipline of an organisation forged in service, the grassroots reach of a network that no programme map can fully capture, and the moral authority of women’s leadership at its most credible.

Nigeria’s development cannot be delivered from Abuja alone. It must be assembled, community by community, in every barracks, every garrison town and every local government area of this Federation. That assembly now has a new and formidable architect.”

Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu-Oranmiyan, President and Secretary General, UNESCO REF

What the appointment means

La portée de la nomination

SIP-ALPHA is UNESCO REF’s most ambitious institutional architecture: a governance innovation that moves development delivery from siloed programmes to an integrated, systems-based approach across education, agriculture, health resilience, youth empowerment and sustainable community development.

As Strategic Ambassador, Dr Shaibu brings NAOWA’s national footprint into SIP-ALPHA’s implementation architecture, with the aim of accelerating delivery across all 774 local government areas of the Federation. Her mandate already extends to two flagship programmes:

• Young Women in Agriculture (YWA). A national mobilisation campaign targeting 12 million young women in agriculture (read more). Food security is a pressing national priority: the Cadre Harmonisé analysis projected that about 34.7 million Nigerians would face food insecurity in the June to August 2026 lean season.
• The VOICE Initiative. UNESCO REF’s professional advancement programme for women with disabilities, launched on 1 October 2026 with the Osun State Government as first pilot state. Dr Shaibu will lead its national upscaling to 120,000 women across the six geopolitical zones and its extension across Africa (read more).

The contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals is direct. The deeper contribution is the trust of a nation’s military families, now extended into the architecture of its development future.

Global alignment

Alignement mondial

Framework	Provision	How the appointment responds
SDG 1, No Poverty	Target 1.4: equal rights to economic resources for the poor and vulnerable	Extends SIP-ALPHA into military communities and garrison towns
SDG 2, Zero Hunger	Target 2.3: double the productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women	Leads the Young Women in Agriculture campaign for 12 million women
SDG 4, Quality Education	Targets 4.1 and 4.4: quality schooling and relevant skills for youth	Builds on NAOWA schools, teacher training and youth skills programmes
SDG 5, Gender Equality	Target 5.5: women’s full participation and leadership	Places women’s leadership at the head of national programme delivery
SDG 8, Decent Work	Target 8.6: reduce youth not in employment, education or training	Youth advancement and skills acquisition across the Federation
SDG 17, Partnerships	Target 17.17: effective public and civil society partnerships	A covenant between UNESCO REF and NAOWA
UN Security Council Resolution 1325	Women, Peace and Security: women’s role in peacebuilding and community resilience	Mobilises the wives and families of the military as agents of development and stability
African Union Agenda 2063	Aspiration 6: development driven by the potential of African women and youth	Cited by Dr Shaibu in her letter of acceptance
Maputo Protocol	Article 15: right to food security; Article 13: economic and social welfare rights	Women-led food security and economic empowerment
Renewed Hope Agenda, Federal Government of Nigeria	Food security, human capital and inclusive growth	Delivery through all 774 local government areas

ENDS

Notes to editors

Notes aux rédactions

About SIP-ALPHA. The Strategic Intervention Programmes for Accelerated Learning and Productive Human Asset (SIP-ALPHA) is UNESCO REF’s integrated development framework, delivering education, agriculture, health resilience, youth empowerment and community development programmes in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

About NAOWA. The Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in the 1950s and constituted under its present name in 1963. It operates schools, community health centres, skills acquisition centres and welfare programmes for military families and host communities across Nigeria.

About UNESCO REF. The Read and Earn Federation, for UNESCO (UNESCO REF) works to strengthen human and institutional capacity across Nigeria and Africa through education, research and professional development.

Media enquiries. UNESCO REF Media Centre, [email protected], +234 (0) 916 4212 902, www.unesco-ref.org

Ref: UNESCO REF/MEDIA/2026/NAOWA SIP ALPHA AMB 01

Sources

Sources

• NAOWA President vows stronger safety net for widows, vulnerable military families, News Agency of Nigeria, February 2026
• NAOWA expands schools, trains teachers, News Agency of Nigeria, 5 August 2026
• Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association, Wikipedia
• Waidi Shaibu, Wikipedia
• FG honours CoAS, others at 2026 AFCRD awards ceremony, The Guardian Nigeria, 14 January 2026
• 34.7m Nigerians projected to face food crisis in mid-2026, Daily Trust, 8 November 2025
• The VOICE Initiative, UNESCO REF