Mrs. Obaseki and Mrs. Mary Enebeli Ukpor

Wife of Edo State Governor, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, has blamed the extinction of voluntary associations​ and other notable institutions and movements in the State over the years for the rise in illegal migration and human trafficking in State.

Mrs. Obaseki disclosed this Monday in Benin, the State capital, at an event where she was decorated as the Patron of the Nigeria Girls Guide Association.

She said she and her husband, Governor Godwin Obaseki, are resolved to revive all dead voluntary institutions and movements in the state.

Wives of the Chairmen of the 18 local government areas in the State were also inaugurated as Matrons of the Association, even as serving female political office holders in the State we’re also co-opted as members of the association by Mrs. Obaseki.

She said they were being co-opted in their capacity, “first, as women, secondly as mothers and lastly, based on the positions” that they occupy.

“That is why you are all meant to go and mentor all the women that you come across in life and bring them into this movement because the more people we get who know the tenets of this movement, the more cleansed and sanitized our society will be, and the more young girls we will be delivering from destruction, the more good homes and better marriages we will have and consequently, the better society”.

The First Lady urged the new inductees to recognize that the fight against human trafficking is non negotiable.

“It is a fight for the soul of Edo State between light and darkness, and that as darkness cannot overcome light, so also will the efforts of the state against human trafficking prevail,” Mrs. Obaseki said.

Earlier, the Commissioner of the Nigerian Girls Guide Association, Mrs. Mary Enebeli Ukpor, said the NGGA is concerned with the development of the moral values of the Girl Child, character molding and skill acquisition.

Also, the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Girls Guide in Edo, Mrs. Rhoda Thomas, urged members to imbibe the leadership qualities of being sensitive, focused and passionate about their cause.