History

The Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON) was founded by the Honorable Mrs. Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, a lawyer, gender activist and family woman who has dedicated her life to helping others. She is currently the leader of WOCON's management team and is at the head of all three organizational branches in Ogun, Enugu and Lagos State.

'Bisi graduated with honors from the University of Ife, Nigeria in 1975 with a Bachelor's of Law. She was then called to the Nigerian Bar Association as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court. In 1976, she founded her own law firm, Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi and Associates in Lagos and served as President of the Nigerian Chapter of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) between 1993 and 1994. She used her tenure to instigate the campaign for the rehabilitation of Street Children in Lagos.

 

Mrs. Olateru-Olagbegi later branched off into non-profit work with the creation of WOCON in 1995. Her tireless efforts on promoting the rights of women and children in Nigeria attracted the attention of the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and she was commissioned as part of a team of researchers to conduct the first official study on the phenomenum of trafficking in women in Nigeria in 1996. The study gave rise a year later to the pioneer launching of the national campaign against human trafficking when the public awareness on the issue was still obscure. Bisi has since become an expert on the issuevof human trafficking locally and at International level. 

 

Bisi's natural energy and determination has led her to take on the additional responsibility of National Coordinator for WILDAF (Nigeria), a branch of the Regional network  and a National network of over 70 organizations and several hundreds of individuals committed to the promotion of the rights of women. She also heads the coordinating organization for the National Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons (NACATIP), a coalition of 26 non-governmental organizations focusing on the issue of human trafficking.

A public speaker and author Bisi has made many presentations at international and national forums and published many books particularly on women and children’s rights issues.