Senator Nenadi Usman Urges Women to Rise in Leadership at NOBEL Women’s 40th Anniversary

By Iyojo Ameh

The Interim National Chairman of Nigeria’s Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman, has called on women to step into greater leadership roles globally, warning of a decline in female representation in top positions despite historical progress.

Speaking at the Lois DeBerry Leadership Institute graduation ceremony during the 40th anniversary of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative (NOBEL) Women in Atlanta, Usman said women must see leadership as a duty, not just an aspiration.

“As the first and only woman to lead a political party in Nigeria’s history, I know the importance of breaking barriers. The past proves what women can achieve; the present demands that we do even more,” she said.

Usman, who rose from Nigeria’s Minister of Finance at age 40 to become a senator and now head of Africa’s largest opposition party, urged graduates to treat their certificates as “a beginning, not an end.”

She cited historic female rulers such as Cleopatra, Empress Wu Zetian, Queen Elizabeth I, and Queen Amina of Zazzau, as well as modern leaders like Benazir Bhutto and Margaret Thatcher, to illustrate women’s capacity to shape nations.

“The world urgently needs your leadership. If I could rise from a marginalised region of Nigeria to lead, then no dream is unattainable,” she told the graduates.

The Lois DeBerry Leadership Institute is a flagship program of NOBEL Women, which has spent four decades advancing women’s political leadership across the United States.