With a five-point agenda anchored on capacity building, resource mobilisation, policy influence, visibility and institutional strengthening, Mimidoo Uhundu is offering a new direction for Benue’s civil society network. But can her experience and ideas revive an organisation whose members say it must urgently confront internal divisions, weak coordination and declining influence?
At 24, Mimidoo Williams Uhundu joined the Benue Non-Governmental Organisations Network (BENGONET), an umbrella body of civil society organisations (CSOs) committed to policy influencing and budget tracking.
Four years later, she says she is no longer the young entrant who walked into the network. She has served first as support secretary and subsequently as general secretary, gaining experience in its governance structures, internal dynamics and engagement with government and development partners.
Now, she wants to lead the network as chairperson.
Her ambition is not merely to occupy an office. It is to help rebuild an organisation she believes can do much more for its members and the people of Benue State.
“I am not coming in to learn about the challenges. I am acquainted with the challenges,” she told stakeholders during a meeting convened to discuss the future of BENGONET and the leadership transition ahead.
For Miss Uhundu, the experience she has accumulated within the network, combined with her work in policy advocacy and civil society leadership, provides a foundation for the task ahead.
She is also conscious of the expectations and anxieties surrounding her aspiration, particularly the possibility that some members may question whether a younger person can provide the leadership the network needs.
Her response is that leadership should be assessed by experience, commitment and the ability to build institutions, rather than age alone.
“I am standing on the shoulders of giants; that is why I can see far,” she said, acknowledging the contributions of older members while making the case for a new phase of collective action.
Founded in 2002, BENGONET emerged from the need for civil society organisations to speak with a common voice, hold government accountable and influence policies affecting the people.
With more than 160 member organisations and expertise spanning different development sectors, the network has considerable human and institutional resources at its disposal.
Yet, stakeholders at the meeting expressed concern that its influence has waned, with weak coordination, internal disagreements and inadequate institutional structures undermining its effectiveness.
Rosemary Hua, one of the founding members of BENHONET warned that the network could not make meaningful progress without a strategic plan, stronger governance structures and improved coordination among its thematic groups.
She also called for a conflict-resolution committee, reforms to the constitution and the board, and greater attention to staff welfare.
Her concerns underscored the scale of the institutional challenges confronting any incoming leadership.
For Miss Uhundu, however, the challenges are not reasons for despair. They are a call to action.
She believes BENGONET must move beyond the prestige of being an umbrella organisation to become a functional network in which members derive practical benefits from belonging.
“A network is one that works for all,” she said, presenting a vision of a BENGONET where members can access opportunities, strengthen their capacities, collaborate on advocacy and benefit from shared resources.
She acknowledged that some members had become inactive, noting that organisations naturally lose interest when their expectations of membership are not met.
Her proposed response is to rebuild trust, improve participation and ensure that the network creates tangible value for its constituents.
At the heart of her aspiration is a five-point programme she calls DRIVE: Deliver, Resource, Influence, Visibility and Enhance.
The agenda seeks to reposition BENGONET as a stronger, better-coordinated and more influential civil society platform.
Miss Uhundu has also identified constitutional review, training and the long-overdue process of changing trustees as issues requiring attention.
She argues that the network must establish clear governance arrangements, accountability mechanisms and institutional systems capable of sustaining its work beyond the tenure of any individual leader.
The objective is to transform BENGONET from a loose association of organisations into a coordinated institution with a clear sense of purpose.
Beyond her proposed agenda, Miss Uhundu’s supporters say her aspiration is consistent with the way she has related to other civil society actors.
Onah Adeyi recalled that when he was establishing his organisation, Miss Uhundu offered him office space. The space, he said, was also used by the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities.
For him, the gesture demonstrated a willingness to support other organisations rather than concentrate resources within her own institution.
Iveren Blessing Ilim of Prime Youths and Women Empowerment Initiative similarly described Miss Uhundu as someone who had repeatedly come to her aid when her organisation faced difficulties.
She urged members to assess the aspirant based on their personal experiences of her conduct and willingness to help others.
Victoria Esa, Executive Director of the Environment and Climate Change Amelioration Initiative, said she was supporting a young woman she considered focused and committed to social change.
She challenged Miss Uhundu to create an enabling environment for collaboration among civil society networks and strengthen the capacity of emerging organisations, particularly in policy engagement.
The endorsements point to an important dimension of Uhundu’s pitch: The argument that leadership must be demonstrated through service, inclusion and the willingness to help others grow.
As Executive Director of Spring of Hope Nigeria, a youth- and women-led organisation working on sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, protection, peacebuilding, community resilience, youth empowerment and climate justice, Miss Uhundu also brings experience from managing an organisation with development programmes and partnerships.
She cited her organisation’s progress in implementing donor-funded programmes involving local and international funders as evidence of the possibilities that strategic partnerships and institutional development can offer. She wants that experience to inform her approach to BENGONET.
One of the more delicate challenges facing the network is the need to bridge internal divisions and improve relationships among organisations operating under different civil society platforms.
Miss Uhundu believes the way forward is to identify common interests and build collaboration around a shared agenda for Benue.
She pointed to previous joint advocacy engagements as evidence that organisations can work together despite differences in affiliation or identity.
Rather than allowing divisions to define relationships, she wants members to concentrate on issues where their interests converge.
Her approach also extends to inclusion. She said BENGONET’s seven thematic areas should work more closely together and that members should be engaged according to their expertise rather than stereotyped roles.
She cited her own organisation’s practice of placing persons with disabilities in managerial positions based on their competence, rather than limiting them to disability-related assignments.
For her, an inclusive network must create opportunities for members to contribute meaningfully, irrespective of age, organisational size or disability.
She insists that the proposed reforms will require collective commitment, not the efforts of a chairperson acting alone.
The leadership question, as Miss Uhundu sees it, goes beyond who eventually emerges as chairperson.
She believes the future of BENGONET matters because of the role civil society plays in holding government accountable, monitoring public expenditure and ensuring that citizens’ concerns inform public policy.
In her view, efforts to restrict civic space make it even more urgent for civil society organisations to strengthen their institutions and work together.
Miss Uhundu recognises that the task cannot be accomplished by one person.
She is asking members to reflect on what they want BENGONET to become and to support a collective effort to rebuild it.
“What is more important is not whether or not I become chairperson,” she said in essence. “The priority should be that BENGONET becomes stronger.”
It is a statement that places the network’s survival and relevance above an individual political ambition.
Her question to members is direct: What kind of BENGONET do we want for the next generation?
The answer will require more than a change of leadership. It will demand institutional reforms, renewed trust, sustainable funding, active membership and a willingness to put collective interests above individual differences.
For Miss Uhundu, the DRIVE agenda is her proposed route to that destination.
Whether it becomes the foundation for a revitalised BENGONET will ultimately depend not only on her ability to lead, but also on the willingness of members to work together to make the network stronger.
Her promise is that, if elected, no member will be left behind.
For a network seeking to reclaim its place in Benue’s policy and accountability space, that is both an aspiration and a test of leadership.
