The Nation Newspaper

Tag: equality

  • Okpekpe Road Race: Oshiomhole advocates equality in winner’s prize money

    Okpekpe Road Race: Oshiomhole advocates equality in winner’s prize money

    • Pays additional $10,000 to female winner
    • Plans full marathon in Urhonigbe before December

    Ethiopian duo of Teshome Asafan and Wuday Ayalew emerged the men and women’s  champions  at the second Okpekpe 10km road race last Saturday in Okpekpe, Edo state.

    Asafan broke Moses Masai of Kenya’s 29 minutes,49 seconds one year old course record with the race’s first sub 29 minutes performance, 28 minutes .36 seconds  to  win the men’s title and the accompanying $25,000 cash prize.

    He raced home first ahead of Kenyan duo of Amos Mitel (28 minutes,53 seconds) and Cornenius Kangogo (29 minutes,1 second) who came second and third respectively.                                     Ismael Yero of Cross River State came in 10th in 31 minutes,18 seconds to emerge the fastest Nigerian man at the race. He got N100,000 for his effort.

    Lawrece Osheku also received N100,000 for emerging Edo State’s fastest man.

    It  was, however,  a clean Ethiopian sweep in the women’s category as Ayalew, former Obudu mountain race champions, Genet Yalew and Berhane Dibaba emerged the top three podium finshers.

    Ayalew ran 32 minutes,41 seconds to race home first to collect $25,000 made possible by Edo State Governor,Adams Oshiomhole who added $10,000 to increase the top prize on offer from $15,000 to $25,000.

    Compatriots Yalew,the 2012 Obudu mountain race winner and Dibaba placed second and third respectively.Deborah Pam emerged for the second successive year the fastest (38 minutes,6 seconds) Nigerian woman at the race. She placed 10th in the race.

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole competed in the VIP race alongside Nigeria Labour Congress vice president Comrade Isa Aremu and Rafiu Ladipo,President-General of Nigerian Football and other sports supporters club.

    Meanwhile,the female winner of the event, Ethiopian athlete Mudi Ayila who emerged first place winner returning in 32.41seconds smiled home with the same $25,000 prize the male Ethiopian counterpart winner Mnen Eshion courtesy the benevolence of Oshiomhole who paid the difference of $10,000.

    Ayila should have received $15,000 for winning the female race but Oshiomhole argued that there shouldn’t be any difference in the winner’s prize since the athletes ran the same length of race in the competition. The Governor frowned against the disparity and defended his action while also calling on the International Athletics Federation to correct the disparity in the cash prizes.

    “As long as I am the Governor of Edo State, women will continue to have equal compensation for their efforts. Just to make the point that in Nigeria we believe in gender equality and I believe in it fully. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) to review the rule in order to achieve gender equality.

    The governor also used the opportunity to announce a planned full marathon race that would be staged by the organisers of the Okpekpe race before the end of the year. “Let me also announce that I have already discussed with the organisers of this competition (Okpekpe 10km road race) will be preparing for a full marathon which will take place in Urhonigbe. We have constructed a 52 kilometre brand new road that cuts across several little, little villages.

    “I was told that for a full marathon you need only 42.2 kilometres and this road is 52 kilometres.

    So, it is more than enough to do a full marathon. I will encourage the organisers to work on that between now and December, let us have a full marathon in Edo State and Edo State will support it  fully”, the sport loving Governor declared.

  • A case for gender equality

    A case for gender equality

    SIR: Nigeria has the highest population of any African country. With a population of over 162 million, Nigeria is ranked the world’s seventh most populated country. Of this magnitude, 49 percent are female; some 80.2 million girls and women. Comparatively, 38 percent of women in Nigeria lack formal education as against 25 for men and only four percent of women have higher education against the seven percent of their male counterpart.

    Nigeria ranks 118 of 134 countries in the Gender Equality Index.

    Undoubtedly, Nigeria and the World at large has in the last decade witnessed an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights, being one of the most profound social revolutions the world has ever seen. Couple of decades back, only two countries allowed women to vote. Today, that right is virtually universal. Millions of men and women around the world now support the call for gender equality although there is much to be done especially in developing countries like Nigeria.

    In Nigeria, only 25 out of the 360 members of the Nigerian House of Representatives being women and only about four percent of local government councillors are women. This could perhaps be an explanation for Nigeria’s low investment in sections that are crucial to human development outcomes such as health and education.

    It is pertinent to note that the quality of our democracy, the strength of our economies, the health of our societies and the sustainability of peace —are all undermined when we fail to fully tap half of the world’s talent and potential. Where women have access to secondary education, good jobs, land and other assets, national growth and stability are enhanced, and we see lower maternal mortality, improved child nutrition, greater food security, and less risk of HIV and AIDS.

    Achieving gender equality and women’s rights in Nigeria and the world at large is crucial to establishing and sustaining developments as specifically addressed by three Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Gender inequality has a much greater impact than the explicit MDGs. Gender dynamics underpin all of the MDGs and to make progress, we need specific gender-sensitive policies and action across the entire project.

    In promoting women’s livelihood, the 2012 DFID Gender Report in Nigeria, recommends that “Government policy should prioritise agriculture and rural development, because 54 million of Nigeria’s 80.2 million women live and work in rural areas where they constitute 60-70% of the rural work force”. It also advocates the formulation and implementation of laws that will assist the female gender in actualising her mandate.

    The report also advise on the creation of incentives for all girls to complete primary and secondary education, whilst delivering free education to girls and better funding for the educational sector both at the state and national levels.

    This fight for gender equality can only be successful with citizens making concerted efforts towards successful women’s leadership; strengthening women’s economic empowerment; ending violence against women; promoting women’s participation in peace and security processes; and ensuring that public planning and budgeting responds to the needs and rights of women. Together-we can make it happen!

     

    • Tayo Elegbede Jet

    Lagos.