BPW International

Who is Adenike Adeyanju-Osadolor ?

Adenike Adeyanju-Osadolor is an experienced and versatile woman. She had her university education at the University of Ife, Ile- Ife, Nigeria where she came tops in her class of 1975. She went on to pursue her post graduate degree in the same university. She later attended Radcliffe College, Harvard University, USA for her professional training in publishing procedures in 1982.

Her experience over the past 36 years has straddled the academia, scholarly and educational book publishing, and development work.  She runs her own publishing outfit, ABBI Books which promotes women’s voice through publications by and on women and women’s issues. One of her publications, Sociological Aspects of Family Planning and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria written by a professor of Demography and Social Statistics, Professor L.A. Adeokun, has been adopted as an advocacy tool for the integration of family planning and HIV/AIDS services in Nigeria. In addition, she is editorial consultant/communication specialist to many national and international organizations including the UN system in Nigeria.

Her interest in development work started in 2005 when she was invited to head the Secretariat of the 14th International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexually-transmitted Diseases in Africa (ICASA 2005) organized triennially by the Society for AIDS in Africa. Since then, she has been involved in consultancy services with several major NGOs in Nigeria. She headed the Technical Support Unit of Network on Ethics, Human Rights, Law and HIV/AIDS-Prevention, Support and Care (NELA), one of the pioneering NGOs in HIV/AIDS advocacy in Nigeria. The unit, under a USAID sponsored project, NELA Consortium on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NECAIN), worked in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, providing technical backstopping for Federal Ministry of Women Affairs for institutional strengthening in their coordination of OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) services in Nigeria.

She is currently the BPW Africa Regional Coordinator, a position she has earned by dint of hard work, total commitment and dedication to the goals and aspirations of BPW.

Adenike is a well sought after conference speaker and resource person. Her most recent engagement was as resource person at a retreat organized by the Nigerian First Lady in July 2011 on Etiquette, Protocol and Administration for the wives of all the elected/appointed governors and service chiefs in Nigeria. She seized the opportunity of her presentation on “Managing an NGO: Issues of Sustainability”, to promote the values and best practices of BPW International, using BPW as a model in NGO sustainability. This is expected to yield fruitful result in terms of growth and visibility of BPW in Nigeria.

She serves on the Board of several government-owned and private organizations bringing her wealth of experience to bear on these organizations.

She has received several honours, among which are listing in two reference books published by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England:  
1.    International Who’s Who of Professional and Business Women, Second Edition, 1990.
2.    International Who’s Who of Intellectuals, Ninth Edition, 1990.

A victim of one of the most harmful traditional practices in Africa, widow traumatization, she rose from this experience stronger and determined to assist in empowering widows  in similar circumstances, especially young widows, to get on with their lives. She presently mentors quite a number of them.

Her life is one of dedication to God in the service of humanity in whatever capacity she finds herself.