Visible Impact

Mrs. Alaere Alaibe, founder of the Family Reorientation Education and Empowerment (FREE) was born in the heart of Lagos. However, she is a native of Trofani village, in Sagbama local government area, right in the oil rich Bayelsa State of the south-south geo-political zone of the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.
Alaere holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking and Finance and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) both from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. Rivers State, Nigeria.

Between 1988 and 1990, she worked as an Accountant with Elekrint Nigeria Limited, Lagos and Ashland Oil Company, Port Harcourt. Still in pursuit of her dreams, she left her lucrative position and in 1994 to set up Pretty Woman Nigeria Limited, a health and beauty company, which is helping to redefine the emerging face and consciousness of the modern Nigerian woman with poise and confidence.
In 2000, Alaere initiated the Family Reorientation Education and Empowerment (FREE) to help the women of the Niger Delta region resolve the developmental dilemmas confronting them, and in addition help them become literate and empowered.
In July 2005, FREE was officially registered as a not- for-profit NGO with emphasis on women and the girl child. FREE is a member of the Non Governmental Association for Literacy Support Services (NOGALSS) with a mandate to reduce the high levels of ignorance, alphabetic illiteracy,the collapse of family values and general underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region.

BACKGROUND
WHY WAS THE PROGRAMME LAUNCHED?
The Niger Delta is the third largest natural wetland in the world, followed only by the Mississippi in the United States of America and the Pantanal in South America; today, and decades before now, it has been a critical environment synonymous with vast acreages of rich mineral resources and recently, volatile youth restiveness. The reason for this is not far fetched. Over the decades, without the political will and commitment by successive governments to lay emphasis on responsible planning, protection and management of the environment and its human resources; the FAMILY; as a fundamental group and natural environment for the growth and well being of children has been gradually disintegrating, culminating into moral decadence, illiteracy and various socio economic vices that turned the Niger Delta into a cancerous critical environment on the verge of total collapse.

FREE is a non-profit gender sensitive community-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) duly registered in Nigeria to help establish an effective network among stakeholders in the Niger Delta region; our immediate environment in Nigeria, in order to bridge the yawning gaps of development in our areas of operation.