President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday reassured women that his administration will continue to take significant steps to fulfill his promise of affirmative action towards empowering them.
Jonathan, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media & Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, felicitated with all Nigerian women as they join others across the world in celebrating this year’s International Women’s Day.
According to him, his administration will continue to build on its achievements and do all within its powers to curb violence against women.
The statement reads: “In keeping with the theme –
‘A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women’, chosen by the United Nations for International Women’s Day this year, President Jonathan wishes to reassure Nigerian women that having already taken very significant steps to fulfill his promise of affirmative action to further empower Nigerian women, his administration will continue to build on its achievements in this regard and do all within its powers to curb violence against women.
“The President also seizes the opportunity of the occasion to pledge the Federal Government’s full support for ‘COMMIT’– the new United Nations (UN) initiative which calls on leaders worldwide to take a stand to end violence against women and girls.
“President Jonathan fully believes that Nigerian women can be equal partners with men in the implementation of his administration’s Agenda for National Transformation and will therefore carry on doing everything possible to ensure that they are politically and economically empowered to contribute even more positively to the national development effort.
“Having already broken gender barriers by appointing women to key positions in government including the first female Chief Justice of the Federation and female ministers for very important ministries such as Finance, Petroleum, Communications Technology, Education, Water Resources, Housing, Environment, Power, Defence, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and authorising the admission of women to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and their commissioning as combatants in the Armed Forces, the President assures Nigerian women that he is determined to take their empowerment a step forward by working to ensure that they also get better representation in elective offices in future.
“As International Women’s Day 2013 is marked, President Jonathan also reaffirms his personal commitment to the accelerated reduction of maternal and infant mortality in the country and assures women that the Government will continue to work for its attainment through the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies, as well as international organisations such as the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children which he co-chairs.”
Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday said that women across the world are marginalised, stressing that it has affected their acquisition of leadership experience. He called for greater representation for women in politics and government in the spirit of fairness and equity.
Oshiomhole spoke at this year’s annual lecture of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), held at the Muson Centre, Lagos. He promised to look into the case of a man sentenced to five years imprisonment in Edo State for stealing roasted rabbit.
At the event were Information Communication Technology (ICT) Minister, Mrs Mobola Johnson, Chairperson, WIMBIZ, Mrs Adeola Azeez, Chairman, Edo State Economic Team, Godwin Obaseki, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs, Risikatu Akiode, former Edo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Osanyenye, member, WIMBIZ board of directors, Yewande Zaccheaus and Director, Edo State ICT, Yemi Keri.
The governor, who noted that Nigeria’s situation was more compelling, attributed the challenges women face to hostile socio-cultural, legal and political environment. He urged women to stand up and kick against the indigenisation law which denies women the right to vie for certain offices in their husbands states.
Oshiomhole noted that only 20.4 per cent of political positions are held by women worldwide, just as he maintained that women have proven to be more courageous and goal-driven.
“There is need for special attention to women issues; re-order the environment so that women can have equal opportunities because no nation can adequately attain the desired developmental level or pursue policies that will confine poverty to history if men and women do not have equal opportunities.
In her opening remark, Mrs Azeez said that WIMBIZ was interested in creating a platform for women to realise their full potentials, just as she noted that there was need for more women doing more.
She said:“There are wonderful gifts and talents that God has deposited in every woman. What we need is an enabling environment, the support from our spouses as well as retrain ourselves, be courageous, articulate and smart.
“WIMBIZ is creating the platform to engage women, to get into their consciousness and let them know they do not need to fold their alms and watch. We anger them, provoke them, inspire them and impact on them to stop sitting in their comfort zones and start impacting on their society.
“We are also breaking some of those cultural barriers especially in the North to make more of the northern women come out of their shell. As a matter of fact, we have appointed a northern woman on our board and we shall disclose her identity later.
“We cannot sit back and not take part in politics and governance. We cannot sit and criticise Nigeria for not getting to where we expect it. Women must come out and effect that change. WIMBIZ has partnered with an organisation ahead of the 2015 election to talk to women and ensure that those who have merit and credibility are positioned for certain positions.
Foreign Secretary in the British High Commission, Abuja, William Hague, called for greater international action to tackle sexual violence in conflict.
Hague is billed to mark the day with a vow to redouble efforts to tackle the culture of impunity surrounding sexual violence in conflict and ensure survivors’ voices can be heard.
The Foreign Secretary’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), a key foreign affairs priority for the UK’s G8 Presidency this year, aims to increase the number of perpetrators facing justice, push for greater international action and help countries improve their efforts to tackle these crimes and support survivors.
The Foreign Secretary said: “International Women’s Day is a chance to celebrate women’s achievements, but also to highlight where more work needs to be done.
“Sexual violence as a weapon of war is not just a crime against women. But the majority of attacks are against women and girls, with hundreds of thousands suffering appalling sexual crimes in conflict zones. It is a sad truth that too often the perpetrators go unpunished.
“My pledge during the UK’s G8 Presidency year and beyond is to work to end the culture of impunity that exists around these crimes and to galvanise the international community to greater action.
Also, the Under-Secretary-General and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Babatunde Osotimehin, has renewed the commitment of UNFPA, to strengthen and intensify efforts to an end gender-based violence.
He said, the global statistics given on female violence are unacceptable, as up to 50 per cent of sexual assaults are committed against girls age below 16.
Globally, 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not yet considered a crime and up to 70 per cent of women in the world report having experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime, while 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18.
Osotimehin said in the face of such unacceptable figures, gender-based violence remained a major health and human rights concern and that no human development can be achieved as long as women and girls continue to suffer from violence or live in fear of it.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said that ending violence against women is not only an urgent human rights need—it is critical to ending AIDS.
Sidibé’s remark was contained in a statement yesterday by UNAIDS on the international women’s day.
It reads: “Studies carried out by UNAIDS has shown that majority of the people living with Human Immune Virus (HIV) are women. This is due to the fact that every minute a young woman is infected with HIV.”
Sidibe said that an equal world is one where all women and men have access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. It is one where women and men can equally protect themselves from HIV.
The Director also advised that husbands and partners, brothers and sons, must all be part of the solution to build a world where women and men are equal.
Her words: “Only when we value a girl’s health and welfare as highly as a boy’s, only when we listen and act equally to women’s voices—then can we have a chance at ending this epidemic.”
She urged everyone to stand together as caring communities in other to reach for shared dignity, mutual respect and a renewed commitment to end violence against women and girls.
Mrs Funmi Falana, a lawyer, lamented that Nigeria has not provided the right atmosphere for equal participation for women in public offices as contained in Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Article 7 of the Convention of Eliminates of All Forum Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
According to her, the number of women in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is a proof that women are still being marginalised.
Her words: ‘Regrettably’ under the present political dispensation, out of 42 ministers, only 11 are women. In the 36 states, no state has up to five women in its executive council and of the 36 Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) nominated in 2011, only three are women. The struggle for gender equality is far from being won”.
She urged the National Assembly to use the opportunity of the ongoing Constitution review to eliminate all discriminatory laws and practices against women.
