The Executive Director of Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), Hajia Salamatu Garba has bagged the Agriculture and Community Development award of the maiden Kano Heroes Award held inside the Coronation Hall of the Government House, Kano.

Hajia Salamatu, who was among prominent Nigerians that received Kano Heroes Award 2018 organized by Destiny Channels Broadcasting Network, dedicated the award to rural women in Nigeria in particular and across the world in general.

According to the organizers of the award, Hajia Salamatu was given the award because of her invaluable contributions to the growth of smallholder farmers and processors, “giving voice to the voiceless through capacity building and economic empowerment.”

The organizers also rewarded her community development efforts which have led to the construction of over 200 boreholes and solar powered water systems in schools and communities across northern Nigeria as well as construction of agro-processing centres for women groups, targeting more than five million women processors.

“Hajia Salamatu Garba has also helped communities form credit/in-kind inputs revolving schemes to ease access to genuine inputs and finance. This has led to unprecedented increase in quality and quantity of output, thereby improving income and, ultimately, standards of living across the states’, the organizers announced.

While receiving the award, Hajia Salamatu declared that the recognition is for all rural women who strive daily to make a difference in their homes and communities.

She said, “Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah for this special recognition. It is particularly heart-warming to be recognized alongside Nigerian heroes like the late General Murtala Muhammad, Audu Bako and Maitama Sule. This is also why I am happy to dedicate the award to all rural women who trek long distances to fetch water and those that have to soil their hands before they can oil their mouths and those of their families.”

She thanked the organizers for the recognition, tasking them and all other stakeholders in the development world to continue to create opportunities for women so that they can continue to contribute to the nation’s economic development.

Hajia Salamatu was accompanied to the award ceremony by a large contingent of WOFAN women groups and others from Kano and Jigawa states.

Other recipients of the Kano Heroes Award included the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero; Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II; late General Murtala Mohammed; first civilian governor of Kano state, late Abubakar Rimi; first military governor of Kano state, CP Audu Bako; Kano state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; former governor of Kano state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau (Sarduanan Kano); and the late Dan Massanin Kano, Yusuf Maitama Sule.