COMMUNITY CATEGORY
Rita Otu is an agricultural economist who has been actively involved with community empowerment programmes for the past five years. It is her commitment to bridge the gap between our environment and everyday lives that encouraged her to set up a non-governmental organization called People Environment and Sustainability (PEAS) Foundation with a focus on environmental education, professional development, and advancement of women to achieve a strong diversified workforce and support a robust renewable energy economy. Her specialties include community-scale planning in climate and energy, clean energy, agriculture, sustainable economic development, organizational development and water initiatives. Through her organisation she has trained over 700 rural women to be empowered through agriculture and nutrition.
Through her entrepreneurial endeavors and her involvement in her community she was selected by United Nations as a Global Champion for Empower Women. She is an advocate for girls and women empowerment, promoting girls and women issues both offline and online, in her community and in Diaspora. She has mentored over 1500 secondary school students on WASH, Solar energy and agriculture.
Rita holds a Masters degree in International Development from the prestigious University of Manchester, United Kingdom and a Bachelors degree in Agricultural Economics and Extension which she obtained a Second Class Upper Division 2:1 from University of Calabar, Calabar. Cross River State. She is passionate about transforming lives and supporting women to improve their skills. She was recently shortlisted for Volunteer of the Year Award, 2015 at the University of Manchester due to her corporate social responsibility.
Rita was recently invited by Mobil Producing Nigeria, an affiliate of ExxonMobil Corporation, to join the Women Connect network. This was in recognition of her tree Planting campaign and other Green initiatives done by PEAS foundation with girls in secondary schools. As a partner of choice, Rita was trained on various methods of advocacy and engagement with government and corporations to further equip her organization. WeConnect members are now considered partners of the organisation.
As a Christian one of the greatest teachings in God’s commandment is to show love and help the needy /less privilege. As a woman, God has raised me beyond imaginations and the only way to thank God was to set up a non -governmental organisation to help the needy especially girls and women who are the most vulnerable groups in the society. My Christian faith has gone a long way to expose me to show love and affection to others and I’m grateful to God for this great opportunity.
Rita is an ardent learner, highly respected, reliable, hardworking, friendly and approachable. She is a member of several local groups too numerous to mention, and always takes a very active role. In her work, she continues to advance the goal of clean energy in the technology space. Rita is a Christian and a Catholic by faith. She loves reading motivational books.