As the year 2020 marks the decade for women and children, stakeholders from different walks of life have risen to break down the barriers placed in the way of the vulnerable segments of the society. GRACE OBIKE, who was at the event, reports.
The United Nations (UN) has declared the year 2020 as a decade of action for women and children. Civil society groups, government agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country appear to be bracing up for the challenge.
Themed Each4Equal, the groups, a few days ago, converged on Abuja to discuss ways of pushing the women’s and children’s agenda.
For a long time, Nigerian women have fought hard to overcome cultural limitations that have continued to make women the poorest of the poor in this part of the world.
Addressing the gathering, the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Mariam Uwais, lamented that society does not appear to recognise the contributions women can make to national growth and development.
She identified child marriage, which usually gives rise to malnourished babies as one of the major challenges to be confronted headlong.
Talking about the prevalence of child marriages in the country, Mrs Uwais deplored a cultural mindset that is often misrepresented as faith. “I think that there is a lot that we must do to break those myths because it is untrue that any religion would sanction injustice.
These girls are voiceless and they have no place to go. So it behooves on all of us that have had the opportunity to go to school and attain some level of achievement to speak for them.
I have an NGO in Kano that has been doing a lot of work on out of school children, especially girls”. Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, explained that the present administration intends to uplift women in three key areas.
She listed the areas to as girl-child education, empowerment of the vulnerable groups and women in politics.
Tallen said, “The girl child issue is top on our agenda and I will like to use this medium to call on all well mean Nigerians to ensure that the education of the girl child is a task that must be done.”
She commended the presenter of a feminine based television programme, Osasu Igbinedion for reaching out to out of school girls and other vulnerable groups through her Foundation.
“I want to give her my words and assure all our civil society organisations like hers that are doing well to support issues that have to do with women and children. We will definitely partner together and help scale out the bad situation that we are facing now,” Tallen said.
Osasu, who is the Executive Director of the Osasu Show Foundation, observed that Nigeria recorded a poverty index of 31 percent in the last decade, with women and children bearing the burden.
Her Foundation, she said, was out to tackle the root cause of poverty in the land, to ensure that Nigerian, especially the youth, women, and girls are empowered, engaged and secure.
Osasu informed the gathering that her Foundation recently launched its decade of an action campaign to empower women and girls on projects in seven states across the nation.
According to her, plans are afoot to create a 10-year strategic plan to tackle developmental issues in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
She said, “Since inception, the Osasu Show Foundation has implemented sustainable small scale interventions in the six geopolitical zones of the country and conducted sample surveys in the communities where we work.
Recording successes, we realised the need to create a 10-year strategic plan to tackle developmental issues in support of Sustainable Development Goals, with particular focus on goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 16.
The Osasu Show Foundation has recently launched its “Decade of Action” campaign for Women & Girls Empowerment (WAGE) and Capacity Building Incubator (CBI) that will see to the implementation of projects in a minimum of seven states across the country and an investment of at least N2.5 billion.
The objectives of the program include advocating equality and inclusion by advancing policy changes that accelerate girl child and women empowerment; leading capacity building incubator efforts by equipping the next generation of leaders with valuable skill sets; promoting social enterprise by providing grants and technical assistance to a vulnerable population, especially women; and boosting access to education and improved learning outcomes for the vulnerable population.”
Country Director, Amnesty International Nigeria, Osas Ojigho reiterated that celebrating women and girls is significant because 2020 marks the end of the African Union decade of women and the start of a new decade of women empowerment.
Ojigho said at the same time, it is also the bridge where we look at the latest human rights development reports of the UNDP that 90 percent of men and women have biases against women.
She added, “We have 10 years now to plan to break those stereotypes to be a part of rewriting history to ensure that everyone can achieve equality in this generation and beyond.
At Amnesty International Nigeria, we support the rights of women, we support human rights as the bedrock of a progressive society. We also recognise that when everyone is allowed to contribute on an equal footing with equal access to opportunities, the society is better for it.”
Former Minister of Youth Development, Hon. Bolaji Abdullahi who was also at the event, said real change can only take place if we are able to engage the state to play the leading role.
According to him, the issue of gender equality or the advancement of women is both a factor and consequence of the quality of our democracy.
“It is only at the state level when state actors are willing to play certain roles that we can bring out the kind of change that we need.
So we must continue to engage the state because the real change that can happen will only occur when the state is leading the process and we are pushing hard and will continue to maintain that assertive capacity as civil societies to demand that certain things must be done in a particular way.
That is the only way that we can bring about this change in a sustainable way. I know that the roads ahead are going to be very bumpy but I know that it can be done”, Mallam Abdullahi added.
The Executive Director, CODE, Hamzat Lawal, said that his association is committed to partnering with the Osasu Foundation to scale and accelerate the N2.5 billion that has been committed for the program.
Lawal said, “I believe that in partnership with government, international donor organisations and private institutions, we can achieve this. I am excited about this year commencing the decade of action plan and it can also inform our conversation to have a side event during the next general assembly in the United Nations.
This is quite timely because the oil price is dwindling. I believe that this presents a unique opportunity for our country to ensure that we see concrete steps being taken. I believe that resources can be saved by help support programmes like this so that we can accelerate progress. Our follow-the-money campaign has over six thousand volunteers in the 774 local governments. We will partner with the Foundation to ensure that the resources reach the vulnerable people.”
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