Ex-NCWS president, Shoda, becomes first Black African elected representative on ICW board
The International Council of Women (ICW) has elected Mrs Laraba Shoda, the immediate past president of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), as Africa’s representative on its board.
Shoda’s election makes her the first Black African to be so elected.
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In her capacity as a board member of ICW, Shoda would be in charge of the African Women Council, an affiliate of ICW.
Before her appointment, Shoda, immediate past president of NCWS in Nigeria, served between 2016 and 2022.
Born in Kawo, Kaduna State, she attended St. Peter’s Demonstration School and St. Faith’s College for her primary and secondary education respectively in Kawo. She then proceeded to the Ogun State College of Education (now Tai Solarin University of Education) where she obtained her National Certificate of Education (NCE).
Shoda enrolled for her Bachelor of Education Degree at the University of Benin in 1989 and graduated with Second Class Upper.
The former NCWS president later proceeded to the University of Ibadan where she obtained a Master’s degree in Education, M.Ed (PhD Grade) in Community Development in 2005.
She attended the senior executive course 36 at the prestigious National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru-Jos, in 2014 and bagged the title Member of the National Institute, mni.
Shoda also did a Doctorate degree programme in Peace and Conflict Management at the Theological Seminary College, Ibadan, between 2012 and 2014.
She is the first female chairperson of the governing council of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta. A businesswoman of no mean repute, her business interests cut across the globe.
Shoda was president of Remo Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture and Ogun State Chamber of Commerce, from 2000 to 2004 and 2004 to 2008 respectively.
When the ICW created the African Regional Council of Women (ARCW) in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia, Shoda was selected to oversee the new body alongside others from South Africa and Morocco.
The ARCW seeks to among others improve the welfare, progress and standard of living of women, girls, and the vulnerable as well as increase women’s participation in politics in Africa.
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