By Mary Agidi

Having taken cognisance of the commitment of the wife of Ondo State governor, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, to champion the cause of women and to raise the next generation of selfless female leaders, the Institute for National Transformation, INT, has bestowed on her an award of Excellence.

The award was given to her at the INT office Lekki Lagos during her thank-you visit to the management of the institute for their support for BEMORE Empowered initiative.

In his address, the Chairman of the Board of the institute, Mr. Mike Adebiyi noted that Mrs. Akeredolu’s philanthropic initiatives are in tandem with the vision of INT which is the transformation of families, organisations, communities, and nations to their highest levels of performance and achievement.


He expressed the readiness of the institute to partner her programmes in raising valued-based and no excuse leaders of responsibility.

Responding, Arabinrin Akeredolu appreciated the support given to the BEMORE Empowered initiative and affirmed that her initiatives like BEMORE , SOLAYO, and FOWOSO are on the same page with the missions of INT.

She emphasised the need for a paradigm shift in the way individual utilises his/her skill and knowledge for self-development and the society at large.

Mrs. Akeredolu noted that her passion to bring positive change to the society birthed BEMORE initiative to train young ones who are still malleable with unpolluted ideas.


She explained to the management of the institute that the BEMORE initiative was designed to make the girls realise that they possess the capabilities of contributing to the socio-economic development of the country.

According to her, the issue of female subjugation, including low-female inclusion in politics and governance cannot be overcome by mere talks, noting that the BEMORE girls have started dreaming big on how to change the situation.

Some board members of the institute who witnessed the performance of the girls during the just concluded Summer Bootcamp for Girls naija, commended the skills and knowledge instilled in the girls, especially Solar Energy generation.

The immediate past Board Chairman of the INT, Prince Tunde Akindele, who represented INT Director, Prof. Vincent Anigbogu at the closing ceremony of the 2019 edition of BEMORE programme, attested to the transformation of the girls through the display of acquired akills.

He noted that Nigeria is faced with the problem of leadership characters, adding that in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, there must be a paradigm shift in the attitude of Nigerians.

Prince Akindele also affirmed that Mrs. Akeredolu’s vision is in line with INT’s to develop disciplined people with disciplined thought, who will execute disciplined actions for national development.