It's 10 years now, give us a flashback; at what point in time did you have that 'brainwave' to start the New Era Foundation? It started from the time we were on self exile. Not knowing what to do; I had two children and my husband was at the forefront of a pro-democracy struggle, and I am just there in an environment that is not my own. Then all of a sudden, almost five years after (being in exile), everything settles and he's running for the office of governor of Lagos State. And that involved me the wife because previously he was just in the Senate and wives are not involved there. So I knew that this is the time despite that I didn't want to be seen too much in public; I'm not a public person but the responsibility is being thrown at me, so I just had to live up to it. I began looking at my environment (in the US) which is a developed world to see what makes it different from where I'm coming from. I found a lot of things which we could bring back, improvise and work with for the good of our people. Being an educationist and because I had young children who were in school, their well structured educational system was the attraction for me. I wondered why we couldn't have such in our country so I kept looking at it. And one of the things I brought back with me was the Spelling Bee. I only ran into it on television for about 10 minutes and professionally I knew I could work with that. Luckily, my husband later became governor; I was back home and I was given a platform to support him. I then asked myself, how do I support and what do the people really want? I went around the state touring the local government areas and talking to the people that this is what I want to do. We eventually launched the New Era Foundation on 21 March 2000.

When you set out, did it occur to you that what started as a little effort then would become what it is today?
It hasn't even grown (giggles). I'm still struggling with it but it's exciting; it's something I feel very passionate about and very committed to. And when I look at the very little achievements we've had and successes here and there, I thank God for that. Weare really working with the people; it's like a hands-on foundation and we see what we've turned around in 10 years. Especially the children from Spelling Bees – what they've become – and we really are glad for that. It's really wrong for us to think that we can change the world in a minute because it's a process. We can only do the bit we can and be satisfied with it, if everyone is doing something such that before you know it, it's everywhere. We have to understand that charity work should be a way of life; it shouldn't be a particular group doing it. To me it's a way of giving back to the society. I've come to a point in my life where I can tell you: I'm full. But I see around a lot of hungry people. And when we think about being full, it's not about a physical meal, it's a spiritual meal. And you have to come to a place of understanding when you know that I think I'm thankful for wherever I am. I can eat three square meals if I choose to, I have a roof over my head, and I have a car to move from place to place. I can afford to go on holiday – it doesn't have to be everywhere – but I thank God for that. So whatever I have that is surplus, I can share. That's where I am right now; doing that.

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