Adieu Alaere Alaibe: Opokuma has lost a gem

On Saturday January 31 2009, the cold hands of death snatched away from us an illustrous daughter, Mrs Alaere Augustina Timi Alaibe. She was literally snatched from the arms of her dear husband in a London hospital. Alaere, a native of Trofani in Sagbama Local Government Area became one of the most loved daughter of Opokuma, her new home by marriage to Ndutimi Alaibe the Managing Director of the NDDC.

Mrs. Alaere Alaibe, founder of the international award-winning non-governmental organisation, Family Reorientation Education and Empowerment (FREE) was born in Lagos in 1964. Alaere is a holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking and Finance and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) both from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. Rivers State, Nigeria.

Between 1988 and 1990, she worked as an Accountant with Elekrint Nigeria Limited, Lagos and Ashland Oil Company, Port Harcourt. Still in pursuit of her dreams, she left her lucrative position and in 1994 to set up Pretty Woman Nigeria Limited, a health and beauty company to redefine the emerging face and consciousness of the modern Nigerian woman with poise and confidence.

In 2000, Alaere initiated the Family Reorientation Education and Empowerment (FREE) to help the women of the Niger Delta region resolve the developmental dilemmas confronting them, and in addition help them become literate and empowered.

In July 2005, FREE was officially registered as a not- for-profit NGO with emphasis on women and the girl child. FREE is a member of the Non Governmental Association for Literacy Support Services (NOGALSS) with a vision to reduce the high levels of ignorance, alphabetic illiteracy,the collapse of family values and general underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region.

No other daughter of Opokuma has done so much work to change the Opokuma landscape. Alaere was an apostle for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Through the FREE project, she touched the lives of the people of Opokuma Clan as no other woman had done in the Clan's history. Projects ranging from adult literacy to public health were established to support the Opokuma community.

In agreement with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in pursuance of FREE’s core objective of restoring dignity to the women folk of the Niger Delta, Mrs. Alaere Alaibe has established more Adult & Non Formal Community Education Centres in the Niger Delta, bringing the number in less than a decade from less than 15 to 28.

By dint of hard work her foundation received many awards from different parts of the world. The most notable of these was the Confucious Prize for Literacy 2007 awarded by UNESCO. It was the first time the Confucious Prize was ever given to any Nigerian organisation or government. In the award citation, FREE was applauded for creating a network of learning centres to provide literacy skills to adults, especially to women and out-of-school girls. The women of Opokuma who became empowered through these centres will never forget her.

It was her personal initiative that started the project with the creation in 2002 of the first Pioneer Adult and Non-Formal Study Centre at Trofani. Another was soon created at Opokuma. The number of centres grew to 16, spanning 12 communities, after FREE became fully operational in 2005. This remarkable educational project now numbers 28 centres that provide literacy training to some 700 learners and it is spreading to more communities.

In 2006, FREE built the Support for Africa Health Centre in Igbainwari Town, Opokuma Clan in Bayelsa State, in partnership with the UK-based Support for Africa Foundation of Nigerian-born singer, Patti Boulaye. FREE also organizes education and health seminars and a large number of activities, including free eye tests and the distribution of spectacles to students.

The people of Opokuma in particular and the Niger Delta in general will greatly miss the devoted love of this wonderful lady. She was an embodiment of philanthropy. Maybe it is true what the Romans said that "Those whom the gods love die young".

Adieu Alaere!!