I WENT INTO POLITICS IN EARLY 2000 BECAUSE I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE WHOLE ASPECT OF POLITICS

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I attended different schools all over the country because my father was a military man so we travelled a lot during the 1960s and 1970s. I started school in Lagos at Army Children’s School, Ikeja Cantonment and Yaba, too and then in other places from Kano to Kaduna among others. We hardly stayed in a place for more than a year but eventually I became more stable in Jos where I went to Hillcrest Primary School and from there I proceeded with my secondary education at Federal Government College, Jos in 1980 and I was there till 1985. I left and did my A Levels in the UK at Millfield in Somerset, England, then did my foundation at Coventry University. I was also at Leister University where I did part of my BSc in Biological Sciences and then finished at Buckingham University. I then did a masters in Genetics then came back home to do my NYSC in 1991 and finished in 1992.

I then went back to do my Post graduate Diploma in Management because I wanted to change from the Sciences after which I did another masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy and after that I did my PhD in International Relations. Apart from that I have done a lot of short courses in different backgrounds and for now that I am into special education, I have done a lot of courses in different universities in the UK in regards to disabilities and the different symptoms and care.

Dr. Bilkisu Magoro is an entrepreneur, a mother, a gender activist and she also sees herself as a lover of Nigeria. She is also into education but concentrate on children with special needs and a lot more. She is from Kebbi State.

I started off with my NYSC in Chassel Hastrof in Kaduna and from there I decided to change to management and went into international relations. That time, there was the whole Kaduna crisis and we, youth corps members were used to clear up a lot of things and we saw a lot of deaths that could have easily been prevented.So a lot of us went back home but I decided to stay in Nigeria but switched from the medical field so I could discover what goes on in the other fields like politics and other aspects.

So from then on I started working for myself and during that time I got married and had my children. After that, I was just consulting for many organizations as a volunteer for places such as the African Business Round Table, ECOWAS, UN and the likes. I went into politics in early 2000 because I was curious about the whole aspect of politics. I contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the House of Representatives. I went to the primaries but I didn’t win so I carried on with gender work, most especially with regards to women exclusiveness in governance. I have done a lot of international work on women but most times I have been doing it on my own. My NGO, called the Ismo Magoro Foundation, does a lot of work on women and youth. Over the years I gained interest in children with special disabilities and that is what resulted in opening up a centre for children with special needs,which is where I am now.

The project started three years ago and I am chairing the team. We have the CEO of the most valuable governor’s wives who is Tom Ubolo. Basically what we want to achieve with the project is to create more awareness on the governors’ wives and their participation and contributions to governance and support to their husbands. We look at their projects, like pet projects and NGOs, that some of them started even before entering the government house and what happens to them afterwards.We