Biography
The Start of A Legacy
Born to a middle class family in the oil rich Niger Delta Region of Nigeria and married to a very successful Politician to a very successful Politician and leader, presently serving as Nigeria’s Minister of state for petroleum and Natural Resources, Alayingi has learnt how to craft talents into opportunities in order to; save lives and improve well being by increasing the last mile access to quality of life and education of the less privileged as her ultimate goal. Passionately driven by this goal, Alayingi demonstrates excellent sense of judgement, creativity and innovation for coordination and management activities; strong technical and analytical capacities, Integrity modelled after the UN’s values, ethical standards and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and a high sense of confidentiality and reliability as key competencies to her successful delivery of projects. An experienced development facilitator, health care advocate and coach, development communicator, outstanding Quality of Life (QoL) coach, who has profound respect for that which strives to blossom and therefore endeavours to support every talent and opportunity that will realise true humanity in children and women. The compassionate Alayingi, and her consistent ardor for improving livelihood and well being of the orphaned and vulnerable children in her country Nigeria, carried out the first Rural health care/Breast and Cervical Cancer Awareness campaign which educated the rural populace about cancer and freely screened not less than 15,000 women across the Niger Delta of breast and cervical cancer. In recognition of her contribution to the development of Nigeria’s third sector in particular, improving the quality of life of women and children, the Project Management College UK sought for her collaboration to strengthen her capacity building programme for orphans and vulnerable homes in Nigeria.
Passion against all Tides
This collaboration with her NGO platform; Center for Gender Values and Culture and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in Nigeria brought about the first ever capacity building workshop for the Wives of state Governors in Nigeria. Basic take home here was the equipping of all participants with Project Management tools and Techniques on how to realise inclusive governance that is people oriented.As co-founder of the one mother one child initiative, a special purpose livelihood support vehicle for women and children Alayingi ingrains her usual green marks of passion which has always planted hope in the African child, by intervening with a scholarship programme to improve the quality of life and well being of children in the Internally Displaced Peoples’(IDP) camps in Nigeria which has given access to full primary, post primary and territory school education to the children kuchugoro IDP Camp for example and several others some of whom have graduated with distinction and excelling records. Alayingi’s passion also seeks expression in her quest for conscious and effective promotion of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 by establishing organizations and collaborations which improves good health and well being and also strengthens the Agriculture and food production sub-sector of the Nigerian Economy. As the CEO of healthy Options and Blossom Health she collaborates with local Farmers to contribute to sustainable food production inn Nigeria with her nourishing healthy options snacks.
As part of her efforts to promote Infant and Maternal health care, she was the first woman in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria to have collaborated with the rest of the world to celebrate the foremost world pneumonia Day heralded by “fight pneumonia, save a child “,walk, a child Survival Round table and donated anti pneumonia drugs and material to several community Health Centers across several LGAs of the Niger Delta Region. In order to reduce the under 5 mortality rate and improve new born in Nigeria, Alayingi as a Governor’s wife in Bayelsa State initiated the No woman Should Die Giving Life campaign in 2009 which attracted her attention to the urgent need to launch the premier Traditional Birth Attendants Education Programme in Nigeria targeted at guiding Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) on the best practices that will improve their capacities and reduce infant and material morality in Nigeria. Research revealed that between 2009-2010; this programme helped in ; Increasing Hospital utilization in the state to 56% and Reduced Infant and maternal mortality rate by 26%. It also… Equipped 200 TBAs with basic tools and information that enhanced their capacities..
Impact
Her Excellency Alayingi Sylva also initiated the Bayelsa Stay Alive Initiative (BASAI), an anti HIV/AIDS program of her Center for Gender Values and Cultures to control the spread of HIV/AIDs among the adolescent youths in schools and communities which had trained over 1000 student peer educators and counselors on HIV prevention and control, life building skills and reproductive health matters. Also educates, and builds the capacity of teachers and school heads through the anti HIV/AIDS clubs in their schools. She is the first woman in Government that had established. Free Eye Care Education and screening and correction Center in Niger Delta that had freely screened at a total of 5,657 persons across the states of the Niger Delta with surgeries referred and paid for with her partner in India; the Appollo Hospital. At that center at least patients were treated of varied eye challenges (70% women, 12% men, 18% children). With collaboration of specialist from the General Hospital in Yenagoa, the center attended to 67 Cataract cases, 18 eye surgeries, 13 Glaucoma cases, 16 retina cases, 1,750 corrective lenses given out and Donated Screening kits to 120 teachers and community health workers. She is the first woman to advocate the prevention of avoidable blindness at all levels of government and communities in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria which resulted to the reduction of the prevalence of avoidable blindness in women and children by 18% by the year 2010 in Bayelsa State. Alayingi in collaboration with Emzor Pharmaceuticals and several other pharmaceutical companies in Lagos, the SPDC and other corporate organizations carried out sustainable Mass Deforming project for primary School Children which impacted more than 60,000 children in Nigeria.
On A Global Scale
On the international scene, Alayingi Sylva is the first woman cancer advocate who took the campaign against Cancer to other African countries. The significant one was her cancer education and awareness program in Kenya in the year 2009 which screened more than 500 women and girls free of cervical and breast cancer. Another international feat accomplished by her Excellency, was her anchoring the Women World Trade Fair as first National President strictly to ensure that women productivity efforts in Nigeria is given uninterrupted access to the international markets, this actually promoted enthusiasm in female entrepreneurs and encouraged partnerships. This and many other contributions to women and children development and endeared the attracted the African women leadership organization recognizing her and saddling her with the responsibility of leadership AWLO as serving Regional President. Alayingi, by the trail of her contributions to the development of women and children could pass as the symbol and standard of passion that improves the quality of life and well being of the African child in Nigeria
