Aisha Wakil: Women use sand, ashes in place of sanitary pad

Boko Haram insurgency has made sanitary pad unavailable to many women in troubled Borno State, the Founder of Complete Care and Aid Foundation, Hajiya Aisha Wakil, has lamented.

Wakil, popularly called Mama Boko Haram because of her advocacy for peace and amnesty, said many women victims of insurgency now resort to sand and ashes in place of sanitary pad during their monthly menstrual cycle.


Wakil, who recently paid an advocacy visit to Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, said the Boko Haram insurgency had greatly affected the North East region, arguing that it had adversely affected women and children more.

She said: “One of the effects of insurgency is that women and girls are using sand and ashes in place of sanitary pad for their menses and this is unhygienic and unhealthy for women and girls.”

She lamented that: “Menstrual pad is a luxury for poor women in Borno.” She added that: “Strange as it may sound but poor women and girls in community and IDP camps are still using rags filled with sand, or ashes as an alternative for sanitary napkins during their menstrual period, thus exposing themselves more to vaginal infections.”

Wakil, in a statement by Prince Lawal Shoyode, the Country Director, Complete Care and Aid Foundation, was said to have been invited by Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, to promote activities lined up for the proposed fund raising and office commissioning of the Foundation.

The Foundation team was received by the Wali of Kano, who said he was a police commissioner in the old Gongola State, lamented that insurgency had drawn the North East region back and that the assistance of everyone was needed to revive the region.

He said the people of Kano were ready to offer their assistance to the victims of insurgency in the North East.

Earlier, Wakil had solicited for the intervention of the Emir of Kano in bringing back lasting peace in Borno State and the rest of the North East, adding that some Boko Haram faction were ready to drop their guns.

She told the representative of the Emir that the commissioning of the NGO office and fund raising for its programmes was slated for 28th of April, 2018.