The Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) Women’s Commission has joined other world bodies in celebrating International Women’s Day. The event which took place at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos State has as its theme: “Inspire Inclusion “is aimed at gender inclusivity and equality in sports, asking that women should not in any way be segregated from participating in any sport of their choice.
The fourth Vice President of the NOC and the supervisor of the NOC Women’s Commission, Mrs Bisi Joseph, congratulated women in Nigeria on the occasion and asked for their increased efforts in eradicating gender inequality.
“We are celebrating women’s inclusion, as the theme says, Inspire Inclusion. We are celebrating the fact that women have achieved, and women are still achieving, we celebrate that we are breaking barriers, we are breaking stereotypes, these days we have women who are sports administrators, sports physiologists, sports journalists, we have women across the sports industry”
Joseph, who also doubles as The President of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) also advised women to take their health seriously, and stay strong as it is commonly said; “A strong woman is a strong nation.”
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“We are also celebrating women in terms of health, when you participate in sports you increase your health, a strong woman is a strong nation, and that is the essence of bringing women together to participate in fitness walks, to ensure that we have a healthy body, healthy system, so that we can inspire, progress and contribute our quota to national development.”
Bronze medalist in Badminton at the ongoing 2023 All African Games, Obasanmi Christiana Olajumoke shared her experience at the competition and called for better inclusivity and celebration of women in sports
“It’s been a while since we went out for a tournament because we haven’t been going out for competitions, but when we were called to camp for the competition, I was very happy and determined that I wanted to make the team, and I am happy that I was able to help my country win a bronze medal as a team. I also want to thank my coaches for impacting their knowledge on us, even though I didn’t perform up to what I expected they kept us going and I hope that at the next tournament, I will do better. I believe women can be celebrated better in our country because the way men are hyped is not the same way women are hyped. However, we are trying, but we can be better “
The body appreciated the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for taking a bold step in ensuring gender equality in the global games by having the exact number of men and women participating in the same competition as well as officials.