Every month of August, something happens in the South Eastern part of Nigeria. That thing should begin to happen nationwide. It is the annual summit of women in their various communities. The essence of the meetings, since inception, has been to find ways of helping in the development of the rural communities. Initially, it appeared like a forum where city women returned home to show the village women how unfit they had been. The city girls flaunted elegance and flowery radiance, showing off their latest fashions and deep pockets. Quarrels, altercation and abuses ruled the day at the meetings while anxious moments persisted in the respective families that tended to keep up with the Joneses.

Luckily today, that assemblage of the womenfolk has found its bearing and has undergone a transformation which eventually shaped it into a veritable vehicle for positive change. The women no longer gather to quarrel over nothing but talk about how they can contribute to the growth of the community, knowing that the men need their help to move the communities forward.

The assistance of these women in rural development became ever more important as the Eastern region, predominantly Ndigbo, appears to get little federal government attention, making them to resort to self-help. From indications, today, the poverty and the politico-economic marginalization no longer have boundaries. They have spread across the nation alongside the menacing insecurity. Nigerian women on the whole need to get involved.

State governments and churches, at a stage, took interest in the August Meeting in the East. The governors gave it form through the participation of their wives who toured the local governments to reach out to the rural women, galvanizing them into action. The churches, on their part, also made it a platform for evangelism, promotion of health and provision of infrastructure for church use.

This year’s August meetings, as usual, are coming to an end in the communities and, in Imo State, the usual government involvement in the yearly ritual of the eves was largely absent, signaling a decline in government interest in the show.

The beauty of August meetings is evident in the many structures the various groups have built for use as town halls. It is, however, time to reexamine our concept of development to realize that development is not confined to building of halls, churches, and other infrastructure alone. Human development, as a matter of fact, is key to the overall development of a society. Of what use is the infrastructure if the society is populated with miscreants and election riggers, drug addicts, and terrorists as we are experiencing in recent times?

We hope that at this year’s August Meeting in the East, the women discussed growing insecurity in the land, as well as the do-or-die brand of politics, especially as 2027 approaches. They are the wives, mothers, sisters or even girlfriends of the men who indulge in unwholesome acts. Through them, the known and unknown gunmen, the kidnappers, the armed robbers, the political thugs and professional killers could be reached and perhaps dissuaded from such acts of violence.

In humanity, women command enormous influence in the family. Therefore, there is a sense in embarking on a crusade against all forms of violence through them. Just as eve offered an apple which Adam took without resistance, the women can also urge their children, their brothers and their husbands to reduce violence during elections, to hands off kidnapping and to stop stealing from government.

What do the wives, mothers or sisters of governors, local government chairmen, legislators, party men and other men of influence discuss with them in the bedroom, on the dining table, at the sitting room? Do they push them too hard to smear their hands in corruption in a bid to acquire material wealth? The women who prod their male partners into unwholesome acts while in public office or in government and other organizations should henceforth be instructed to retrace their steps. They should pull their men back from pilfering public funds and rigging elections.

Equally, did the women talk about returning to the dining table most of the staple foods that have almost gone extinct in the East, such as cocoyam (ede), three-leaf yam (una), our local bean (akidi) as well as the vegetables that usually lined up the fences in our backyards? Did they ask of the whereabouts of ogiri or dawadawa, the soup flavouring that our grandmothers used to charm our grandfathers? All that have been replaced with monosodium glutamate that is hardly friendly to our stomach.

In all probability, the August Meeting has come to stay as an agent of development. When women in other parts of the country decide to buy into the project, then, hope shall return to the entire country for a better society. Nigeria today ranks 56^th among the world’s 60 poorest countries in the 2026 report by Global Finance magazine. We need not emphasize the role of the women in the eradication of poverty.

In the North, the almajiris, brooded by the women themselves, are agents of national poverty and insecurity. Although the North is highly patriarchal in nature, the women should come together to force the society into giving them a voice in the human and material development of their communities. They should discuss birth control and push for the education of their offspring for a better future. They should review certain religious principles that tend to weigh the society down and keep it perpetually retrogressive.

On a Candid Note, Nigerian women should follow their south eastern counterparts in this march to progress.

Dr. Odu can be reached through [email protected] or SMS 07016722929.