Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi in 2018

Bisi Adeleye Fayemi (born 11 June 1963) is a Nigerian-British feminist activist, writer and policy advocate. She was first lady of Ekiti State, Nigeria as wife of Ekiti State governor Kayode Fayemi from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as first lady from 2010 to 2014 during her husband's first term in office. In 2001, she co-founded the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), the first Pan-African grant-making organisation. She serves as a UN Women Nigeria Senior Advisor, and was appointed as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King's College, University of London in 2017.

Quotes

• As women, regardless of our class, geographical location or educational status, we should be aware that we do not operate in a vacuum. We function within a context of patriarchal norms and values, which have been firmly entrenched over time, and which continue to be validated through culture, traditions and religious beliefs.
  • Talking at an event termed The Ekiti Experience (10 July 2014)

• Ekiti State became the first State in the country to domesticate the National Gender Policy.
  • Reporting what his husband's administration has done

• It is about squandering the commonwealth of the people, ostensibly for the benefit of the people but ultimately for the good of only a select few.
  • Her definition of stomach infrastructure (2014)

• Sadly, the combination of poverty and ignorance is toxic and deadly.
  • The need to sustain Ekiti women’s gains

• Ultimately, it is the fabric that binds us together as a community of people that will unravel, when we can no longer talk to one another in civility, when young people can abuse their elders at will in the anonymity of cyber space, and when reputations built over years of hard work and service get tarnished with one stroke of the keys.
  • The use of social media and the role of civil society

• We need to keep mentoring young women in ways that nurture them and prepare them for the harsh world of business, politics and public life. In doing this, we need to be able to set an example for them because they will practice what they see and not what they hear from us.
  • Intergenerational organization

• All of us here have a sphere of influence we can operate from. Let us use our spaces wisely and purposefully. Let us all rise and set our sights on all the great things we know we can accomplish. Let us stop being complacent. Let us move out of our comfort zones. Let us stop passing things on to the next person. You are the person. You are the change.
  • Encouragement to women present at the event (July 2014)

• I have always held the firm conviction that Africans has the most generous communities in the world, and our culture of local philanthropy is very strong. It is not what we acquire a result of influences from elsewhere.The very rich tradition of indigenous philanthropy therefore should be nurtured to enable us create lasting Institutions and structure for the sustainable growth and development of our communities.
  • Quoted from her speech during the commissioning of Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Centre for Gender and Social policies studies (29 September 2014)

"I wanted to make sure that no woman or women's organization would ever be turned down for a grant for the reasons I was turned dow.On reasons for founding The African Women's Development Fund."