A Nigerian-American who earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in the United States, Onyinye returned to her native Nigeria to examine the urgent issue of girls health, education, early marriage and, most of all, girls empowerment.
A people without a voice in Nigeria’s oil-producing towns
Poor leadership, corruption and lack of accountability have helped make the Niger-Delta region one of the country’s most underdeveloped areas.
It’s tradition: Female genital mutilation in Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria — Fourteen-year-old Chioma just recently began menstruating. Her father sits in his village compound with five male friends who happen to be local chiefs to discuss her coming of age and make plans for a special ceremony. “Finally my daughter will be welcomed fully into womanhood and I can start entertaining suitors,” he ...
Empowering girls in schools
DUTSE, Nigeria — On a hot Saturday morning, I visited a government girls’ secondary school in this town on the outskirts of Abuja. There is not much to see except for the market and people selling food and goods along the unpaved, bumpy roads. I traveled there with Bella Ndubuisi, the founder of a leadership ...