You can call her the voice behind the vision; yes, she is. Collette Chibundo Mbamalu, who goes with the pen name ‘Collette Davidson’, is a certified counsellor, social enterprise expert, life coach, and passionate naturalist.
An author of many books, with more to come, Collette who founded many empowerment initiatives, amid broad partnerships, shares with OBINNA EMELIKE, in this interview, her journey, passion, books, impacts, feats, support for the female folks, especially in politics, believe in a new Nigeria, among related issues.
Excerpt.
Who is Collette Chibundo Mbamalu?
Collette Chibundo Mbamalu is an enigmatic woman who studied along different disciplinary lines; Bsc Health, Msc Social work, PGD Education, MSc Organisational Development, a PhD research student on Public Sector Management, among other certified courses.
Why the pen name, ‘Collette Davidson’, when you are not an artiste?
Collette Davidson is perceived friendly and inclusive enough to cut across all walls of the creative industry, literary and non-literary. Also, we live in a multicultural enclave where people are highly sensitive and biased to their ethnic group such that even if you were selling life, they will still not buy it because you are not identified with their social enclave; in order to curb such a first line ethnocentric barrier to access, knowledge, support or impact, the name -Collette Davidson didn’t only come handy, it was a leveller that leaves no cultural trace at the mention.
You are a woman of many parts, and founder of many initiatives. What inspired the multiple initiatives and how do you run them all successfully?
Passion is the major driver for most of my initiatives, and much of it is laced from personal experiences, in-depth study, a sense of community and the desire to die empty.
Conventionally, no human being is mono-talented, we simply have a few who discovered theirs at an early age, the likes of late Onyeka Onwenu, Eugenia Abu, Kate Henshaw, and Ben Murray Bruce, who diversified beyond youthful exuberance to a commitment for something more legendary. I hold deep eccentricity to service and I am willing to pay the presented price. The goal is headlong.
Which of your numerous initiatives speaks most to you and why?
All my initiatives are born from an observed, researched, and active desire not just to support life but to be a beacon of hope in my immediate environment.
Can you trail the impact of some these initiatives?
Unfortunately, I may not have all the evidenced success stories because as an early starter in community impact, records were least considered, beginning from my university days as a leader of young female students on healthy lifestyle to providing counseling and coaching for secondary school students as an attaché to the guidance counseling units within schools in the FCT. One of the remarkable projects that sprang up was the Rebranding Schools Initiative starting with the FCT, strongly sponsored and supported by the then Ministry of Information and National Orientation and late Professor Dora Akunyili. We leveraged on the education system to enable career planning by promoting apprenticeship as a holiday culture for students.
A regional documentary carried out on the older persons, the first citizens of Nigeria under the Dave Omokaro Foundation, presented at the University of Malta by Dr Emem Omokaro, which contributed as a support data for the training and establishment of Gerontology/Geriatric studies across Nigerian universities under the National Universities Commission (NUC). This was intensified over time until the final bill was passed to establish the National Senior Citizens Centre of Nigeria (NSCCN) currently under Dr Emem Omokaro as the director general.
I was identified in 2023 as a change artist by the National Orientation Agency for a creative venture towards a New Nigeria, demonstrating abject patriotism by donating a music production, ‘Spirit of Naija’, recurrently played on national television.
Under the Society Against Prostitution and Child Labour partnering with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board(AEPB), we trained and graduated 427 commercial sex workers into vocational jobs, conducting their immediate repatriation to their states via the liaison state offices.
Tomorrow African Mind (TAM) has also seen myriads of impacts among students in secondary schools, for talent and leadership culture. One of the major offshoots was the ‘Spirit of Naija’ initiative to cater for the welfare of the less privileged children, partnering with the Youth Organisation Forum within the community as patrons. Most of the beneficiaries of the scholarship opportunities since 2019 reside in three Benue communities. Due to limited funding and the 2020 pandemic, the intent to extend same grace to Kebbi State, another low literacy region for children, according to the researched data, that year was aborted.
In 2022, TAM partnered with a New Nigeria Coalition group to initiate a National Reconciliation Conference(NRC) across all ethnic divides, a bold dare during a crisis fueled division to call for strategic stakeholders among the elites in cultural and religious circles, some of which were the Late Chief Chukwuemeka Okwadike, Sanusi Lamido, Emir of Kano, among others whose warmth and directives fostered solidarity among the recognized ethnic youth groups. Today the NRC has metamorphosed into a National Unity Carnival (NUCa).
Considering your science background in Medical Laboratory Science, why venture into social work and advocacy?
Attention to details; that is what microscopy grants you as a laboratory scientist and it comes with a practised skill over time to look beyond the obvious or overt conditions in diagnosis. However, health and social behaviours communicate an undeniable and traceable relativity (lifestyle). My first exposure was an unpaid volunteer job in community health programmes with the Society for Family Health (SFH) and other NGOs, as a privileged hands-on learner; recalled to continue in my NYSC until I became a field consultant, a trained peer educator (PEP), a TTT (Train The Trainer), a trained gender advocate and couple’s counselor on wellness and HIV/AIDS. These have honed my ability to handle growing concerns in the social sector where sensitive and divergent communities require equity and inclusion in gender, social status, ethnicity, literacy and other intersectionalities in providing access to welfare opportunities or strategic stakeholder-ship.
Based on your science background, are you encouraging mathematics and science courses for beneficiaries of your outreaches, especially Tomorrow African Mind (TAM)?
Tomorrow African Mind is geared towards strategic African learning, culture and leadership, beyond academic studies. In a rapidly evolving globe, the goal post for competence is shifted from a subject-centred to a need-centred learning. Hence, while we do not discourage the elementary courses, our major focus is to be the hub for an Africans for Africa initiative, lifestyle, leadership and global presence.
You were proud to describe yourself as a social enterprise expert, how does that work and is it something more people should go into?
Social enterprise is simply the identification of problems, not only to discuss them, ignore, relegate, or absolve from it like many do, but to find it a worthy venture enough to build a business, career or an advocacy for a solution-based community. I strongly encourage our youth to find usefulness in problem solving either as peace builders, producers or service providers to bridge the bureaucratic gaps and socioeconomic advances. I am someone who believe in community, and I suppose that we will go a longer way as a developing nation when the approach to community issues is participatory, Collaboratory and complementary; because the power of the people is still greater than the people in power.
Congratulations on your recently launched new book. What is the book all about and what is your life’s message unveiled at the launch?
“Nature and I” book was my first academic produce, reviewed and endorsed by the National Education Research and Development Commission (NERDC) as a civic education text for Nigerian primary and secondary schools. It was launched on December 11, 2023, at Transcorp Hilton Abuja with the support of the then Anambra Governorship Candidate- Valentine Ozigbo and honoured by representatives of the Ministry of Education, Iya Oloja General Tinubu, members of the northern region, Chief Onwa Oguejiofor, and other dignitaries. The book is still in a progression to be distributed withstanding the obvious bureaucracy. However, mini book clubs within Abuja consider it an impactful reading exercise.
My second book, “We Move” was supported and launched on a low key by the force CID headquarters Abuja; addressing peace building via self-governance and behaviour change nuggets for youth empowerment. I have also been a guest speaker at the International Conscious Conference (ICC) in Abuja, and at a youth and women forum in Ghana where more copies of ‘We Move’ was recognized and distributed.
My Father’s Sperm is my 4th book addressing male wellness; the psycho-social and cultural stereotypes or stigma enhancing trauma in males. The book is an avenue for fund raising towards the charity initiatives for men’s sexual wellness and total care.
It was really a daring attempt as many said, to delve into sensitive cultural dicta that has long stifled male selfcare, and encouraging suppressed emotions as a proof or validation for maleness. That gender bias where the opposite of strong is stronger if the case is a male; and a deeply expressed emotion is a walk in the park for his counterpart while his masculinity is questioned for letting out. We have promoted a non-empathic breed of males who device to vent their depression at a boiling point, and should the object of weakness be a woman, domestic violence is inevitable.
The book advocates a He- culture that leans in to show up for himself as he does for women, children and his community. A leeway or safe space for men to return to a felt-sense, express, heal, anchor and bridge the empathy gaps long threatened, questioned and labelled.
How have you been able to amplify women voices with the South East Women in Politics and Business platform?
That was a programme designed under Red Carpet Protocol (RCP) by Earl Osaro Onaiwo, former director general of the Governors’ Forum, after we concluded the Abuja Women in Politics and Business, a women-led programme in 2024.
I was also a guest speaker for an online hosted women-led programme on intersectionality in politics around gender. The barriers in participatory leadership for women is obvious to the blind. Our polity stiffles females who contribute about 48.9% votes in elections with a 2.7% at the 10th National Assembly, that means 3 female senators out of 109. In fact, the current assembly has 17 female members out of 360 seats, representing 4.7%.
The advocacy to encourage more women to go all out, not only for the appointed positions but also the electives is a growing concern, though it still demands a men-for-women support. Also, I often suggest an all women political party to enable a more structured, tenured, and stepwise mentorship ladder for the growing number of female aspirants through godmotherism, a possible solution and mirrored alternative to the conventional godfatherism.
What are some of the recognitions that have adorned your efforts so far, and which is the most exciting for you?
My contributions have earned me few of the following awards:
– The National Youth Council Merit Award as an astounding youth in 2018.
– Recognition by the National Orientation Agency of Nigeria as a patriot of a New Nigeria after donating my educational creative productions to Nigeria in 2022.
– The Global Leading Women Awards partnering ECOWAS Abuja, 2024 by the International Women Power Conference (IPWC).
– Awardee of the African Youth Leadership and
Culture(AYCLUS) on Sustainable Development 2024.
-Awardee of the 5th Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Award and Lecture, 2024.
-Recognized and published as one of the top Abuja Women in Business and Politics 2024/2025 on Talk Of The Town magazine, amongst many other platform recognitions.
I think they all beat the mark for me, but most significantly the Zik’s Leadership Award 2024 and the International Women Power Conference (IWPC) @ECOWAS 2024 did more because both offered me strategic platforms to advocate Africa to Africans; our nativity or indigenous education and language as our power of contribution in the global space. I was also invited through recommendation as a panelist on various thought leadership and values reorientation platforms, hosted on different TV and radio stations in Nigeria and internationally, on youth and women affairs in tandem with the global sustainable development goals.
Finally, you said that you believe in a New Nigeria, can that be possible with the ugly shape of things in the country?
To me, the New Nigeria is here like I told my New Nigeria Coalition members. No baby is born suddenly, rather awareness is given to the process and progress in the growth. The bits of transformation per time is the magic and so is a New Nigeria. Nothing is automatic. Nine months a baby in the belly is still invisible until birth pangs ensue, so any denial of the presence of something new and incoming would amount to choosing blindness against sight.
This similitude in birth pangs has left Nigerians denying the possibility of their desired nation. Perhaps, if we learn from nature’s mastery in designing outcomes, we would consciously work as a people who are no longer in expectation, but living the dream.
