By Agatha Emeadi

UmmuSalma Philips is a writer, film producer who is a fiercely passionate voice campaigning against the suppression and exploitation of women and girls, particularly in the northern part of the country. As part of her effort in this regard, she produced Shadow Girls, a documentary. Philips explained that ‘Shadow Girls’ explores the impact of early marriage and lack of proper formal education for the girl child in the country. UmmuSalma is committed to the quest to end the obstacles that hinder women and the girl-child. 

Apart from this documentary, have you done any other work to alleviate the problem of women and girls in the country with emphasis on Northern Nigeria?

We have done some works through ‘Minashehu Foundation’. Mina is my mother’s name while Shehu is my father’s name and both are late, so I joined their names to form the name of the foundation as a platform for creating awareness on the importance of girl-child education. I strongly believe in the institution of marriage at a certain period of our lives, but I have also said that education should come before marriage, especially for the girls. Truly, being independent, self-sufficient and able to rely on oneself is the greatest empowerment for women and then marriage crowns all to make it a beautiful place. When we started the campaign, we also said that teenage girls who had no formal education could be empowered through skill acquisition like tailoring, bead making, make-up/scarf tying, tie and dye, etc. These could go a long way for the uneducated girls. Some of the old traditions, culture and religion which was viewed to have held women down should not continue because there is nothing wrong if a woman is educated and empowered. When I started my awareness campaign, I also heard of the many rape cases of minors, which should be aggressively pursued to stop it. So I decided to lend my voice on behalf of the voiceless girls that are being abused on regular basis, with a view seeking solutions to end the abuse of the girls.

What impact has the documentary made so far?

The impact has been amazing. The documentary has been shortlisted for 13 international film festivals like Venus Film Festival, where we won late last year and the whole crew were simply excited. Others are RSF International, Lift Up Global International Festival, London Seasonal Documentary festival among others. One of the reasons I worked on this documentary is to raise global awareness on what I term ‘gender apartheid’ because gender-based violence is skyrocketing daily. Imagine a situation where minors (girls) between the ages of 2-11years are being raped almost on a daily basis and it is gradually becoming a norm in the Northern part. It is so heart breaking to think that girls are not being educated as expected; being sexually abused coupled with extreme poverty for lack of empowerment. Therefore, the documentary ‘Shadows of Girls’ will also be on international streaming platform and tweets as well. I am also praying for this to be a beginning to end the challenges for most women and girls.

 What drives your passion for women and girls?

I lost my mother at a tender age and it was a struggle between my teenage age and growing into a woman. I really didn’t have strong motivation, guide and encouragement like most girls in my class then. At a point I got depressed and didn’t know what the problem was. Interestingly, after I settled down in marriage and had my children, I told myself that my priority as a mother would be to advocate, change lives and empower women and girls.

Are wives of northern governors supporting this campaign?

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Honestly, it is not enough. The same goes for the northern female celebrities and media enthusiasts, who are not talking about the issues in their region. Some of them have over four million followers and cannot mention the ills facing the women and girls. At least they can use their platforms to focus on rape alone and something would be done about it. If one does not speak out, who will do it for us? I am talking of girls aged two to seven years being raped on a regular basis; what could be more disheartening? Yes, I understand charity works of buying food, diapers and household for them, is that all they need? I think we should all join our voices and fight the demon to a standstill. Who would applaud a rapist? Who wants her own three-year-old daughter to be raped? How can an 11 or 14-year-old carry a pregnancy? To this end, the predominantly early marriage in Northern Nigeria and pregnancy is the reason vesico-vaginal-fistula (VVF) is huge in our region. With VVF, the girls cannot control their flow of urine. The correctional surgery is about N850000 per girl. If actors could take it upon themselves and focus on rape cases and early marriage alone, something would definitely be done. Though I do not like to judge others, but I see what actors and media personalities from other regions do for their people through their platforms. We all saw what Falz, Mr. Marcaroni and DJ Switch did during the #EndSARS#. They spearheaded the campaign to stop police brutality and end bad governance.

Why do most Northern men rather marry a 16-year-old girl instead of a 25-year-old lady?

There has been an improvement because they made it part of their culture and if a woman is over 25 and not married, she gets the name ‘old woman’. In order to avoid that name, young girls fall victims of early marriage. I must also admit that there is an improvement so far. Most parents now tell suitors to allow their daughters enrol in the university before she marrying, yet there is still a lot of work to be done.

Again, the insecurity, kidnapping, banditry and terrorism are also affecting the women and girls much as it is also disturbing the men in the Northern states, who are escaping from the troubled communities, though a state like Borno is bouncing back with full force due to the action of their governor. There has been an increase in security, reconstruction of schools, building of markets and tourism centres. People have started to relocate back to Borno State. It used to be fun to exchange youth corps members between the East/West and the North for a year. Meanwhile, some clerics are not doing much about these problems. I am also against the extreme poverty where a shoe-shiner would have four wives and 20 children or five wives and 15 children with a kiosk where he sells two satchels of milk, why all that? In the same vein, the former Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has spoken many times on the need to control polygamy, increase girls’ education and empowerment. We therefore need the celebrities and influential women to talk about all these deprivations to make our society a better place.

If you were appointed as Minister of Women Affairs, what would be your primary obligation?

My priority would be to rehabilitate women, not just empowerment but therapy and mentorship programs, because a lot of women and girls have been brainwashed and damaged. If you don’t rehabilitate a girl that has been raped, the scar would remain with her for life. Some of the girls would not have the audacity to dream big for themselves or become self-sufficient. I would start all these from the grassroots to support women and the girl-child.

How was growing up?

I was not raised in a polygamous home. My father was from Kano, his mother was a Shua-Arab from Borno and his father was from Fulani. My late mother who I lost early in life is a mixture of Igbo and Kalabari, she was a Christian, but I was raised in a Northern Islamic home. My father had Islamic teachers that taught us the Qu’ran and educated us about the religion. Unfortunately, he passed away a year after my mother died, but I had a wonderful childhood with many cousins of mine that my father put through school and we all grew up together. I was born in Lagos and my parents moved to Jos where we lived. I attended Federal Government College, Jos, and University of Jos, where I studied Law at Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and proceeded to complete my Law Degree in the University of Science and Technology (UST) in Port Harcourt. I also have a second degree in International Law from Imperial College, Kano. Currently I am studying for my Master’s degree in Business Administration at Nextford University, an online school and should be done by July next year. I will start my third degree in English by May at an online university in the United Kingdom. Education to me is key and that is why I advocate for Northern girl’s getting proper education.