Modupe Debbie Ariyo is the Founder and Executive Director of Africa United Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA), an organisation that fights against child abuse in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. She was honoured by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, with a Member of the British Empire (OBE). In this interview with newsmen, she talks about her career, achievements and aspirations
You took a decision more than a decade ago to quit civil service in the United Kingdom and become a civil activist and advocate for better welfare for children. Why did you take that decision?
When I started AFRUCA in 2001, I was driven by the need to get the UK African community to start working together so all the terrible stories we were hearing about children being killed or ending up in care could end. Some of the cases then were so horrific – like that of a little girl called Victoria Climbie who was brought from Africa and tortured to death by her aunty. That case really affected me because Victoria was the same age as my daughter then. I really wanted to get the African community to take a stand to end child abuse so I named the charity, Africans Unite Against Child Abuse.
For me, it was a call to action, a rallying call. I am very happy that many years down the line, we are still a community oriented organisation although I’m sad that many of the issues we set out to address are still present. But then, you cannot on your own eradicate a major issue like child abuse, certainly not in the 13 years we have been in existence. We can only continue to do what we do to the best of our ability and help to safeguard as many children as possible in the process.
Being an African woman who started a crusade, how were you received in the UK?
To be sincere, I don’t think I experienced any hardship as a woman establishing an organisation. This is the UK afterall, it was not a new thing to have a woman do something like this. Generally speaking, people setting up NGOs-Nigerians or not, have a negative image. People think you are in it to make money. Most people do not believe others can be altruistic or well meaning. This is a shame really because we do have a lot of people who are working hard for the sake of humanity – although there are bad eggs everywhere.
However, I actually had to quit my civil service job after setting up AFRUCA in 2001 to be able to run it. I had been employed in the Service for about 11 years prior to then. I had risen to middle management level, meaning I had a glowing career ahead of me. I even had an option at that time to go into consultancy in a very new, developing work area in Africa. So, it used to make me really sad when people made insinuations about setting up a charity to make money. Aside quitting to run the charity, I also worked for free for the first five years. Things were extremely financially difficult for me and my family. However, today, I give thanks because all that sacrifice has paid off.
The charity is doing very well in terms of the work we do, as we have supported thousands of children and their families since our establishment. This is something I find very fulfilling. This is my dream come true! Aside that, AFRUCA is also one of the best known blackled charities in the UK and it has won many awards for its good work. Of course I was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 for the work I do at AFRUCA. As a Nigerian woman, that to me is a great sign of recognition of my made here in the UK.
Let me take you back to your early years while growing up. How would you describe the family you come from and do members of your family have activism in their blood?
To be sincere, my family was your typical Nigerian family. I don’t recollect any activist in my family; my mother was a civil servant. My grandfather was a politician. My father was a business man. There was no activism whatsoever. However, I have always been against injustice. This probably has something to do with being a middle child! You always have to fight your own battles.
Which activist would you say you admired as a young person?
I t would h a v e to be Nelson Mandela. H e w a s a n e n i g – ma. He was my hero and my inspiration. I was full of admiration for him and Winnie. They both represented t o me the true image of what an African person should be: relentless, bold, determined and above all able to make sacrifices for the common good. These were virtues that I really admired in both of them and I believe I have also tried to emulate them in my own ways.
At what age did you return to Nigeria and what prompted that decision?
My parents returned with my sister and I back to Nigeria after their studies. They had been in the UK for about nine years or so. I was very young when we returned. I recall we moved from city to city – Lagos, Ibadan and after Ogun State was c reated, to Abeokuta the capital. I went to secondary school in Abeokuta. I then went to the University of Benin. I deliberately didn’t want to study outside the West of Nigeria. I wanted to mingle and meet people from other parts of Nigeria and I’m happy today that I chose UNIBEN. I still have many friends from my time there. Many are here in the UK with their families.
What memories do you have there and how did you cope with the series of face-offs against government and students in those days?
I loved UNIBEN! The students seem to be a bunch of rebels because the university was closed down each year I was there – the longest was my final year. We were closed down after the May 1989 SAP demonstrations by the government for six months! However, even though I was not an activist, I learnt a lot about the need to stand up for fairness and justice. Many of the student actions were because of the desire for fairness and justice, no matter how this was viewed by the authorities. My final year was my best year. It was the year I knew that Nigeria could change if people wanted it to.
Almost all students took part in the SAP demonstrations of 1989. We were very peaceful, we all went to town to demonstrate – male and female. Everyone was against the government of Babangida and his desire to tie down future generations of Nigeria via the planned Structural Adjustment Programme. This was when I knew people were capable of peacefully fighting for a cause – without any thoughts to direct benefits. Of course, the government was angry with us. Our university was closed down for six months as punishment!
You were a student in UNIBEN when Prof. Grace Alele Williams was there. What kind of relationship would you say she had with the students?
Prof. Alele Williams was my hero. She was a role model and I was glad she was my vice-chancellor. We both came to UNIBEN the same year (1985) and left the same year (1989). She was obviously a pacesetter as the first female Vice Chancellor in the whole of Africa. I don’t think a lot of people, especially the men, liked her because she was a woman. She got a lot of stress from ASUU, the body of lecturers and NANS, the student body.
People like the late Dr. Festus Iyayi were thorns in her flesh! They gave her a very hard time but she stood up to them and for many of us girls in the university, she was a strong role model! She never gave up. However, it must have been a very difficult and lonely job for her – but I believed she did it very well indeed. So I am very proud of her.
You graduated in 1989 and the next year, returned to the UK. Why did you leave for London again? Was it a question of no adequate jobs or just that you wanted to ‘check out’ like Andrew?
I returned to the UK as I was really fed up staying at home when the government closed down UNIBEN for six months after the May 1989 SAP demonstrations. I believe it was meant to punish the students but it was really demoralising. After wasting six months staying at home, I felt there was no point. I was fed up like most young Nigerians at that time. Fortunately, I had an option and I took it. To be sincere, I don’t regret it whatsoever!
Can you remember the first series of cases you handled when you started AFRUCA?
Yes, I had started AFRUCA when the murder of a young Nigerian boy called Jude happened. The case had a huge emotional impact on me. He was punched by a fellow student and he had brain hemorrhage and later collapsed at home and died. He was such a good boy, a gentle and brilliant boy but he was targeted by bullies at school.
The case made me realise that we needed to do more to alert parents to the issue of bullying at school. Nigerian children were always targeted then because they were always so brilliant in class and many parents did not know how to deal with this. As a result of this programme, we set up a project called ‘Child Protection Training for Newly Arrived African Parents’ and we worked with many parents to help educate them about bullying. We have different versions of this project running across the UK at present.
Which case would you say gave some prominence to your campaign?
There were a number of cases but the case of Boy Adam, the little boy whose torso was found in the Thames, was one that AFRUCA was really involved in right after our inception. It was probably the first time such a case would occur in Europe so practitioners, the media and researchers across the country were seeking our advice and expertise to help understand the issues involved – which ranged from child abuse to child trafficking and of course ritual abuse and witchcraft.
Myself and the others at AFRUCA had to learn very quickly as we were being relied on to provide advice on things we didn’t really know much about – for example witchcraft! This was also interesting because everyone thought because you lived in Africa you must know about witchcraft and ritual killing! It was a steep learning curve for us but right now, as a charity working with children of black African origin, that case helped to put us in the limelight very quickly and right after our inception in 2001.
Your organisation is based in UK and Nigeria but you operate from London. How do you manage operations between the two continents?
We do have an office in Nigeria. Our offices are based in Abeokuta. We actually have a separate branch of AFRUCA UK in Nigeria – the AFRUCA Foundation for the Protection of the Rights of Vulnerable Children. The main reason for setting up in Ogun State was to be able to work at the grass roots level, in villages and small towns, places where no one else was working. Unfortunately, the work in Ogun State did not take off as I had hoped.
I will not go into the reasons on the pages of a newspaper. However, my desire to have my charity fully established in Nigeria is still there. I have high hopes to do a lot more, to help transfer much of the knowledge, skills and expertise we have gained working in Europe to Nigeria. I know there is a high demand for our work so I am quite keen. Of course, there are obstacles which will be difficult to deal with as we have experienced before. However, I do hope we can overcome those challenges for the sake of the children.
You wear low cut hair. How long have you been wearing this look?
I love the natural look and I have had my hair short since 1992. Prior to that, I had long, permed hair but most people who knew me since 1992 do not believe that! I love that I don’t have to put chemicals of any sort in my hair – and I detest wearing anything fake, be it Brazilian or Indian. So I wear my hair short because I like the natural look. It is also easier to manage, and for someone always on the move, it is ideal! Some people say it suits me, so that’s equally fine.
How many children or families have benefitted from AFRUCA?
Thousands of children, young people and families have benefitted from our work. It is really fulfilling when I look back to when we started in 2001 and where we are now. It is not just about figures, it is also about impact. We have helped to change policies for black children in this country. We have helped to bring families back together, support children who were trafficked and exploited and helped them to rebuild their lives.
We have taken action on the issue of children branded as witches and we have pushed the government to act. All this is in the UK here. Don’t forget we are also a social enterprise. We employ 12 full time staff and are thereby also helping to support families by providing for them. My only regret is that we have not been able to make similar impacts in Nigeria.
You were very interested in one of the female clerics that was accused of spearheading the Akwa Ibom witch children incident. Why were you so interested in that case at the time?
I think it is important that we start to work closely with faith leaders. They need to understand what it means to abuse children, they need to start to think about how to improve what they do and how they do it so children will not get harmed. The issue of child branding is one where we need to take action. So yes, I am very interested in this issue, not necessarily the minister you talked about. We need to be able to help educate faith leaders so that they understand their own roles in protecting children from abuse and harm
Will you categorically say that churches may be overstepping their boundaries in inculcating discipline in children?
Faith organisations, no matter their denomination, must be safe places for children. It is essential that they learn the boundaries between teaching children right from wrong and abusing them. It is true that many faith groups either sanction or themselves are a party to children being abused. That is something that needs to stop.
The best way to do that is what we are already doing in the UK. We are running a Safeguarding Children from Abuse workshop for faith organisations across Yorkshire and many churches, for example have taken part in the past four years. I would like to introduce a similar programme to Nigeria where we work with faith organisations en masse and teach them what it means to protect children from abuse and harm. There are hundreds of thousands of faith groups in Nigeria, but if we can only reach some of them, that will be great!
What influences your choice of dressing and do you wear more African print than you do western fashion?
To be sincere, I am not your average conscious dresser. I put on clothes as long as they are nice and clean. I don’t have any ideologies towards clothes. If it looks nice on me, I am wearing it!
What will you not leave the house without?
I am an adherent of the Grail Message. I have been since I was in my third year at University of Benin when I was 18 years old. I never leave home without wearing my Grail Cross. It is a part and parcel of me.
You are very quiet about your family; can you tell us about your immediate family?
I like to keep my private life private. I think it is important, especially in the work that I do to maintain some privacy. I don’t talk publicly about my family.
You were honoured and appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for your work with children and families. Did you know you were on the list?
It was a complete shock to me! I was absolutely shocked and thrilled at the same time to have been nominated. Someone has to nominate you and submit your name to the Prime Minister’s office and you had to go through a series of checks and verifications and assessments – without your knowledge that it was being done! If you are successful, then the Prime Minister’s office will pass your details to the palace for your appointment. It is only then you are contacted! I was very gratified that someone thought my work merited a nomination and that I was found to be worthy!
How did you feel when the news got to you that a decision you took 10 years back to become a child advocate had attracted the attention of the Queen of England?
I was very pleased. I always say to the young people that I mentor – no decision you make in life is too small. You never know how far-reaching your decisions would be, so always ensure you make the right decision. I was happy I made the right decision to set up AFRUCA and to have worked hard to ensure it gets to the level where it would be recognised by the Queen of England.
Tell me how you felt the day you were pinned with that medal and given that honour?
It was one of the happiest days of my life. It was great to have received a letter telling you the Queen was ‘minded’ to make you an OBE. But to actually receive it was a huge source of joy to me.
What doors did being an OBE open to you?
I don’t think it is about opening doors. I think it is about people realising you must have done something ‘big’ to have been appointed an OBE. It means that people also unconsciously have respect for you, and trust you, and accept that you are indeed an expert in your field. It makes life easier, in a way.
You were also given a Centenary award as a Nigerian that has given a positive image to Nigeria. What would you say these awards have prompted in you?
It says a lot when you get recognised for the work you do. All these awards mean a lot, in the sense that it is the Queen, the community and others saying: ‘We value your work’ or ‘You have done well’. It is good to be valued that way and I’m really thankful for all the acknowledgements.
What dream do you have for the African child?
I want each and every African child to be valued the same way we value children in Europe. I want them to have access to the things in life that will make their lives less oppressive and difficult, like the children in Europe. Children in Africa suffer excessively. We can work hard to make life better for them and that is my dream – A better life for the African child.