Amina Titilayo Atiku-Abubakar (born 6 June 1949) is a Nigerian advocate of women and child rights and one of the wives of former vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

Atiku Abubakar Atiku is a given name and surname. It may refer to: Given name * Atiku Abubakar (born 1946), Nigerian politician and businessman, Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 *Atikur Rahman Mallik, Bangladeshi film editor Middle name * Abubakar Ati ...

. She is the founder of Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) and the initiator of the private bill that led to the establishment of

National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is a law enforcement agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, founded on the 14th of July, 2003 by the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administr ...

(NAPTIP).

Early life and education

Titilayo Albert was born into a Christian home to the Albert family, a Yoruba family from

Ilesa Ilesa () is an ancient town located in the Osun State, southwest Nigeria; it is also the name of a historic kingdom (also known as Ijesha) centred on that village. The state is ruled by a monarch bearing the title of the Owa Obokun Adimula of Ij ...

Osun state Osun State (; yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Ọ̀ṣun), occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states, to the north by Kwara State, to the south by Og ...

. She was raised in Lagos and had her primary education in Lafiaji, Lagos then proceeded to St. Mary's Iwo, Osun state for her secondary education up until 1969. In 1971, she married Atiku Abubakar, then a young customs officer, before attending Kaduna Polytechnic. Apart from English, she speaks Yoruba and Hausa languages fluently. She converted from Christianity to Islam.

Career and advocacy

She was a lecturer at Kaduna State Polytechnic. While in Rome to further her education in 1986 and 1987, she saw many Nigerian girls on the street. After making inquiry, she realized that many of the girls served as prostitutes for their madams, and quite often were not paid. She also found out that they were deceived with promises to work in Italy, and this prompted her to pledge to combat such incidences upon her return.

WOTCLEF & NAPTIP

In 1999, when her husband,

became Nigeria's vice president, she started an advocacy to end forced prostitution and other forms of human trafficking. First, she founded Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF), and then sponsored a private bill for strict punishment for traffickers, and for the establishment of a federal agency, the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, responsible for fighting trafficking of persons in Nigeria. She also ran education courses focused on welcoming and rehabilitating girls repatriated from different countries back home to Nigeria.

Awards

* ''Annual Nigerian Women's Award'' (2002) * ''D'linga Award'' (2010)

Publications

Amina Titi Abubakar is the author of a number of publications including: *''Educating the Nigerian Child'' *''Empower Law to Fight Child Slavery'' *''Let Us Celebrate Humanity: A collected speeches on women's right and human trafficking''

References