•Yuguda: APC candidate, Shettima are God’s gifts
Women will get greater representation in government, if Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is elected as the country’s next president, his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said yesterday.
Mrs. Tinubu gave the assurance in Abuja at the second edition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professionals Forum symposium titled: “Dissecting the Asiwaju Manifesto – Renewed Hope 2023 Action Plan for a Better Nigeria”.
Represented by the Director-General of the National Women Development Centre, Mrs. Valta Bashir, the senator pledged that Tinubu would prioritise women and youth issues.
She said: “Politically, we will work with the National Assembly to promote greater representation of women in government departments and agencies.
“Our goal is to have at least 35 per cent female representation at all levels of government, we will also work towards progressively improving the number of female lawmakers at state and national levels.
“I am a woman, and I am a beneficiary of Asiwaju’s commitment to empowering womenfolk.
“Although I have always been passionate about charity work and have invested greatly in women and youth development as a former first lady of Lagos State.
Read Also: Tinubu, Shettima are God’s gifts to Nigeria – Yuguda
“It was with the support of my dear husband that I was able to also take on political leadership roles.”
The lawmaker said there was a need to institutionalise female inclusion and representation in politics and governance, adding that this was Tinubu’s pledge to Nigerian women.
The Senator representing Lagos Central in the upper chamber of the National Assembly maintained that every segment of the population must be given a fair chance to make their best contributions to the country’s well-being and betterment.
She said if elected, a Tinubu-Shettima government would provide equal and inclusive opportunities and platforms to ensure that Nigerian women excelled in all areas including economic, social and political sectors.
“Economically, we will encourage our financial institutions to give more and broader loans and incentive schemes support to women-owned businesses,” she said.
Recalling the two-term era of her husband in Lagos State, she said as governor, Tinubu championed many women’s support initiatives that lifted several families out of dire economic challenges.
She also said that a Tinubu-Shettima presidency would push for increased gender parity in education to ensure that the female child got a fair chance at access to basic and post-basic education.
Earlier, the Chairman Broad of Trustees (BOT) of the forum and one-time governor of Bauchi State, Malam Isa Yuguda made a case for why Nigerians should vote for Tinubu at the February 25 presidential election.
He described Tinubu and his Vice Presidential candidate Senator Kashim Shettima as God-given gifts to the country, saying their antecedents placed them far ahead of all other presidential candidates.
Yuguda said: “We have a God-given team in them. They have everything spelt out in the Bible and Koran. They have all it takes as leaders. As human beings, the Almighty God will not come down to tell us the requirements of the person we should put forward as leaders. If we dare make mistakes, the consequences are there for us.”