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Tag: women

  • WIMBIZ seeks more leadership positions for women

    Nigeria is up against a momentous year on multiple fronts. On one hand, there is game-changing national elections. Economic agenda is at the heart of the nation’s efforts to overcome imbalances, implement reforms and accelerate growth. Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) is canvassing the emergence of women change agents on the political scene to promote growth, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    As Nigerians seek ways to boost  economic growth, relying on women will help a great deal.  Some countries have relied on them to boost their productivity and stimulate demand.

    Against this backdrop, a women movement is set to hold discussions on gender equality, with focus on the political and economic spheres.

    Speaking in Lagos, the Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), Executive Director, Mrs Hansatu Adegbite, said   women have contributed to the growth of the country. She said women entrepreneurs and professionals have done a lot to drive the gross domestic product (GDP) and create jobs.

    Mrs Adegbite said across the business terrain, the association has  achieved much in terms of providing women in leadership positions and in boardrooms.

    What more can be done to boost the potential of women? She said WIMBIZ wants opportunities for women leaders.

    With so much evidence of successful female leadership, she added that so much is at stake for political and economic prospects, if  efforts are made to close the gender gap.

    She said the organisation supports higher female labour participation and more women in parliament.

    Eventful Limited Chief  Executive Mrs Yewande Zaccheaus said  WIMBIZ aims at assisting women vying for political offices.

    She explained  that women were, arguably, the most under-tapped resource for accelerating economic growth through political participation.

    As part of this, she said the organisation is  holding a town hall meeting today at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos, on how to help female politicians sell their programmes.

    The Managing Partner/CEO BrandZone, Mrs Chizor Malize,  said increased participation of women could provide the impetus for the development of the economy.

    She emphasised that gender equity has positive economic outcomes and that increasing the presence of women in politics is correlated to wider economic impact.

    She said the group believes  that more talented women should be in elected office and more need to be in the pipeline.

    To this end, she said the organisation is using the training to  broaden its networks and encourage more women to run, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is the smart thing to do.

    She said the forum would be moderated by the Executive Director, Enough is Enough Nigeria,Yemi Ademolekun,  adding that it would feature women candidates contesting the forthcoming elections.

  • CBW charges women on election

    Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Commonwealth Business Women (CBW), Nigeria, has called on Nigerian women to come out to vote for candidates of their choice.

    Chief Executive Officer of CBW Nigeria, Afoma Adigwe, made this charge yesterday in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos. According to the statement, women have the political will to change the fortune of Nigeria and bring about positive, long lasting development to the nation.

    “Women have contributed positively to humanity. We have an obligation to vote to assure we have a positive future and access to programmes that sustain us. Women have long had to fight for many rights and voting is just one of them. Voting is not just a right, it is also a privilege. Every eligible person should be participating.  We just have to vote and make our voices heard. It’s a privilege to be able to have a say in who gets to run our country, and we should never take any opportunity for granted.

    While kicking against any form of electoral violence against women at polling centres, Adigwe, whose organisation will observe elections in 24 states across the federation, said any form of electoral violence against women during the voting process will amount to gender-based violence.

     

  • Women, youth stage rally for Buhari’s reelection in Kwara

    Scores of All Progressives Congress (APC) women and youth recently staged a peaceful rally in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection.

    The rally started around 9.30 am around the popular Post Office Round about in the metropolis and ended at the campaign office of a former APC governorship aspirant Isiak Kawu Modibbo in Sango area.

    The procession affected human and vehicular traffic on the popular Muritala Mohammed way, as vehicles were forced to move at snail pace.

    The rally was organised by Making A Different (MAD) for Kwara and Kawu Modibbo Group.

    In his remark at the event, the state APC Chairman Hon Bashir Bolarinwa urged aggrieved members of the party to forget their grievances and work for the success of the party at polls.

    Represented by his vice chairman Abdullahi Samari said “don’t sell your permanent voters’ cards to them. Your PVC is your power. If they bring money collect the money. After all it is our money. But don’t vote them.”

    Hon Bolarinwa urged other aspirants of the party to emulate the gesture of Isiak Kawu Modibbo.

    Speaking on behalf of the groups, wife of Mallam Modibbo Saadat said: “We are here today to mobilise youth and women in support of President Muhammadu Buhari is doing. He has been doing a great job in the country and we need to show people what he has been doing.

    “The crowd that accompanied us from Post Office to this place is amazing. It is an assurance that Kwarans are ready for the reelection of President Buhari.

    “We are also using this medium to empower some of our members. Kwara State is different from other states. We have been suffering for so long. People need to be empowered, that is why we are giving out some items to some people today.

    “We resolved to show our members a specimen of what a voter’s card looks like so that they know how. In other words, we are embarking on voters’ education, so that they know how to vote on election.

    “Kwarans are ready. We don’t need any message for them and it has started. We will not stop until election days.”

    A youth leader, Abdulkarim Popoola, said the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice Prof Yemi Osinbajo is guaranteed.

    “We are here to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari for his walking over in the forthcoming presidential election; because we are very sure that in Kwara state we are going to deliver for the state for him,” Popoola said.

    “We are also assuring the whole world that President Buhari is coming back again. Four plus for is equaled to eight. That is the reason we organised this rally.”

  • 2019 polls …Power to youths, women

    The figures of registered voters released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show that youths and women should be the targets of candidates seeking elective offices. The statistics also shows that if youths and women can unite, they can take over political offices, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU.

    Samson Itodo is a human rights activist and good governance campaigner. As the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, he worked assiduously for the actualisation of the Not Too Young To Run bill. His team worked with Tony Nwulu in the House of Representatives and AbdulAziz Nyako in the Senate to get sections 65, 106, 131, 177 of the Constitution altered. The alterations were meant to reduce the age of running for elective positions for House of Assembly and House of Representatives from 30 years to 25 years, Senate and Governorship from 35 years to 30 years and office of the President from 40 to 30.

    Itodo made many an advocacy visit, including to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, between May 2016 and mid-2018 when President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the bill. In the wisdom of the National Assembly, it, however, refused to reduce the age for governor and National Assembly membership. That notwithstanding, not a few felt a milestone was recorded.

    Like young people who felt the need for the alterations in the Constitution for them to have a place of pride in the leadership chamber, women have also been complaining of low representation. A paper delivered by Nse Etim Akpan of the Department of Political Science, Federal University Wukari, P.M.B. 1020, Wukari, Taraba State titled ‘Men without Women: An analysis of the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria’ shows that women are under-represented.

    Akpan said: “Women do not often receive the support and mentoring they need to compete with their male counterparts in politics. Even voters do not fully appreciate the benefits of having a mix of men and women in government, often saying that women are over-ambitious when they aspire for any political position. As a result, there is currently a low representation of women at all levels of government in Nigeria. In the 2011 general election, female candidates fared poorly, with only 32 women elected to the national parliament out of 469 members, which is barely 8% representation. This paper examines the level of women participation in the just concluded 2015 general elections. It argues that women’s political involvement in that election was very low in spite of decades of struggle for gender equity and women’s empowerment. The paper equally identifies and discusses the problems face by women in their quest to participate in politics, examine the theoretical perspective of the discrimination and inequality suffered by women; and lastly suggest possible measures that could aid their political participation and empowerment.”

    Akpan shows that in the 2015 elections, lesser women were victorious.  “In fact with the results of the just concluded elections, it seems women’s low participation in elective positions have grown from bad to worse. There is growing concern amongst women that the percentage of their participation in elective positions in the country witnessed decline or nose-dived from 2007 to 2011 and now 2015,” said the researcher.

    The findings show that: “in 2002, women made up only three percent of elected officials, in 2007 they made up seven percent and in 2011 they made up about five percent and even before the 2015 general elections few women emerged as candidates after the political party primaries.” It added that “in the 29 states where gubernatorial elections held this year, the representation of women seeking the office of governor and deputy governor was 87 out of the 380 candidates (22.9 per cent) running for the positions. In the contest for senatorial seats, 122 women out of 747 candidates, representing 16 per cent, were cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to run in the March 28 election. The number was not better in the contest for the lower chamber of parliament. Two hundred and sixty seven (267) women out of a total 1774 candidates ran for seats at the House of Representatives, representing 15 per cent.”

    Read also: Strengthen political institutions for stability, Buhari tells African leaders

    INEC Deputy Director Gender Division Mrs. Blessing Obidiegwu observed that 14 females were elected into the House of Representatives and eight women won as senators in 2015. This, said Akpan, means only 14 women are part of the 360 lawmakers in the House. The House before the current one had 27 women. In the Senate, there are eight women and 101 men.

    A lawyer and Chair of Women in Politics Forum (WiP), Ebere Ifendu, explained why women did not do well in the election: “Looking at what is going on in Taraba and Akwa Ibom where women contested, there was so much violence and unfortunately we are not going to have as much women as the previous senate. We are not happy with it but we have to re-strategize and see what we can do to have more women participate. Because as it is, we are just back to square one. Until there is legislation on the 35 percent affirmative action women will continue to have problems because election is very much monetised, women don’t have resources to match men. There is no genuine internal democracy in the political parties and candidates are handpicked, adding that when one scales party primary he or she has scaled the most hurdle.”

    Ideally, youths and women should have more say in the political space. Statistics released by INEC on Monday supports this. The breakdown of the 84,004,084 registered voters shows that female voters constitute 47.14 per cent, which is 39,598,645 voters; male voters constitute 52.85 per cent, which is 44,405,439 voters. Youths between ages 18 and 35 constitute 51.11 per cent, which is 42,938,458 voters. Those between 36 and 50 constitute 29.97 per cent, which is 25,176,144. Those between 51 and 70 constitute 15.22 per cent, which amounted to 3,100,971 voters. The septuagenarians and above constitute 3.69 per cent, which is 3,100,971 voters.

    INEC Director of Voter Register Iro Gambo said that the Southsouth has 12,841,279 registered voters, representing 15.29 per cent. He added that the Northcentral has 13,366,070 voters, representing 15.91 per cent; the Southeast has 10,057,130 registered voters, representing 11.91 per cent, and Southwest has 16,292,212 voters, representing 19.39 per cent.

    The Northwest has 20,158,100 voters, representing 24 per cent and the Northeast has 11,289, 293 voters, representing 13.44 per cent. Lagos State accounts for 6.6 million and Kano has 5.5 million voters.

    For many, women and youths can only use their figures to their advantage if they are united and do no develop apathy. A public affairs analyst, Mr Ezekiel Alabi, believes INEC and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) must intensify their campaign against voter apathy.  Alabi said the outcome of the last general elections showed that less than 50 per cent of registered voters actually voted.

    Alabi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan yesterday that the 84 million registered voters was not as important as the actual number of voters that would come out to vote during the forthcoming general elections.

    He said: “This clearly reveals that voter apathy usually characterise general elections in the country. It now behoves on INEC, NOA and other relevant agencies of government to step up strategies in sensitising these 84 million voters on the need to exercise their civic responsibility.

    “Those that are yet to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) should be sensitised to collect them while those with the PVCs should be implored to use it wisely during the elections,” he stated.

    Alabi also enjoined the electorate not to sell their PVCs to unscrupulous politicians. He expressed optimism that over 90 per cent of registered voters would participate in the elections.

    “That is if INEC, NOA and other relevant agencies of government play their respective roles effectively,‘’ he said.

    So far, there are no specific messages targeted by office seekers to get the votes of the youths and women. A public commentator, Moses Adagunodo, said: “What you can count as campaigns targeted at youths are basically on social media, but even at that they are general in nature. May be now that the statistics are out we may see targeted messages.”

    Will the women and youths use their electoral strength to their advantage? Time will tell.

  • Lagos goes orange to stop violence against women, girls

    The Lagos State Ministry of Justice and Office of the Public Defender (OPD) marked the International Day on Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls last weekend in Lagos. ROBERT EGBE and RASAQ IBRAHIM report that the event, with the theme Orange The World. #HearMeToo, affirmed the state’s commitment to tackling gender-based violence.

    Kikelomo  Woleosho was seven years old when her neighbour, ‘Uncle Deji’ introduced her to a new version of children’s role playing game, Mummy and daddy.

    But this version, involved the innocent child playing Uncle Deji’s real life secret bed partner.

    Woleosho, now 31, narrated her ordeal as a survivor of domestic violence during the 2018 United Nations’ 16 days activism for the International Day on Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, organised last Friday by the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender (OPD).

    She said: “My childhood was stolen from me at seven years when my neighbour, uncle Deji raped me under the pretext of ‘mummy and daddy play.

    “And from that day forward, I began to masturbate and it started with an unbearable urge to fondle my genitals.

    “Several other nights my uncle who came to visit us would roam my body with his hand, particularly my thighs and pubic area.”

    Woleosho told the shocked audience that the incident continued, when her aunt’s husband joined in.

     

    “Orange The World.#HearMeToo”

     

    Woleosho’s story was not much different to that of other survivors of sexual and domestic violence who narrated their experiences at the event organised by the Office of the Public Defender in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.

    The programme themed, “Orange The World #HearMeToo” was organised to raise awareness and highlight the scale and true nature of the Violence against women and girls (VAWG).

    But, according to Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem SAN, the state was prepared to give everything to eliminate the scourge.

    Kazeem said there would be justice for all survivors who came forward, irrespective of social class, economic status, gender and religion.

     

    ‘Free legal services to over 1,059

    survivors of domestic violence’

     

    Lagos, the AG said, had recorded huge success in its bid to offer free legal services to the less privileged with a special focus on the socio economic rights of women, children and persons with disability.

    He said between January and September, the OPD gave free legal services to over 1,059 survivors of domestic Violence.

    He explained that the services ranged from obtaining restraining orders against perpetrators, making reports to the police with a view to ensuring arrests and prosecution of the offenders, filing for divorce and giving psychosocial support to the survivors.

     

    ‘Culture of silence’

     

    According to Kazeem, violence against women and girls “is one of the most widespread and devastating human right abuses across the globe.

    “One of the biggest challenges to ending violence against women is the absurd and repugnant culture of silence.”

    He said the government had “put substantial measures in place to ensure that violence against women and girls is brought to an end once and for all.”

    He listed some of these measures to include the enactment of Domestic Violence Law, 2007 (which is currently undergoing some review), to protect the rights of Survivors of domestic violence”.

    Kazeem said: “The Family Courts and Sexual Offences Courts have been established for speedy dispensation of justice for survivors of Domestic Violence.

    “And there has been an increase in the number of convictions in these courts.

    “The state has taken pragmatic action by raising the bar with effective campaign awareness across the electronic, print and social media.

    “This is geared at bringing to the fore, the forms, nature, dangers and consequences for any would be perpetrator of any act of violence against any woman in the State with the collaborative efforts of Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) which OPD is a member.”

     

    Challenges

     

    Kazeem lamented that one major challenge hampering the fight against domestic violence is that ‘influential members of the society are encouraging these horrendous acts of violence by pleading on behalf of the perpetrators of domestic and sexual offences.”

     

    “Causes, consequences of gender inequality”

     

    OPD Director, Mrs Olayinka Adeyemi, said the United Nations’ (UN) international Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women “is a day set for Governments, Government agencies, International organizations and non-governmental organizations to raise public awareness of violence against women.

    “It has been observed on November 25 each year since 2000. Like previous editions, the date marks the launch of 16 days of activism that will conclude on 10 December 2018, International Human Rights Day.”

    Adeyemi lamented that there were “deep rooted social norms, attitudes and behaviour that discriminate against and limit women and girls in the society” and that these “were all causes and consequences of gender inequality.”

    She said gender based violence affects families, schools and workplaces and holds back society from reaching its full potential.

    The Director added: “Beyond raising awareness, we at the Office of the Public Defender are always constantly looking into new ways to promptly and urgently address gender based issues and crime that affect women and girls as they are reported to the Office.

    “As part of the initiative to bring violence against women and children to the barest minimum, the Office recently set up a Family and Child Justice Unit that specializes in representation for women and children in civil and criminal cases that involves them with the sole aim of ensuring the protection of their socio-economic rights.

     

    ‘Collaborate, speak out’

     

    Adeyemi observed that there had been a spike in recent years in the number of these crimes recorded by the police, the DSVRT and the Office of the Public Defender as a result of multi agencies collaboration.

    She urged stakeholders to step up the collaboration.

    “To do this we need to make tackling violence against women and girls everybody‘s business. From health providers, to law enforcement, to employers, social media, friends and family we all need to play our part.

    “By allowing women to disclose violence as part of their everyday interactions we can support earlier identification and intervention to stop violence and abuse from escalating to critical levels.

    “By improving confidence in the criminal justice system we will be able to bring more perpetrators to justice as well as doing more to rehabilitate offenders

    “One of the biggest challenge to ending violence against women is the absurd and repugnant culture of silence. In recent time women are struggling speak out. Hence I am charging everybody present here today whether man or woman to ensure that they speak out against any violence against any girl or woman and to also remind us that the law has made us mandatory reporters hence we are obligated as residents of this State to report any form of violence.

    “No woman should have to live in fear of violence. No man should think it acceptable to perpetrate violence against women. No child should grow up in a home where violence is an everyday occurrence. Working together we can make that a reality in Lagos State.

     

    Advice for parents

     

    Woleosho noted that she experienced such ordeals because of lack of parental responsibility and care.

    She advised that children shouldn’t be left unsupervised, regardless of how busy they are, parents should find a way to create space for their children to thrive under close supervision.

    Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olasoji Akinbayo, of the Area D Command, Lagos, pledged that the Police would collaborate with other stakeholders to curtail gender based violence.

    He said that men and women need to be sensitised on the consequences of gender based violence and “the government should enact enabling laws to minimise domestic violence.”

     

     

  • Akeredolu gives N550m loan to women, artisans

    Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) yesterday released N550 million loan to market women, entrepreneurial groups and cooperatives societies.

    He said the measure was part of his administration’s efforts to tackle poverty, banish hunger and create wealth across the state.

    Akeredolu spoke at the launch of Apalara Micro-Credit Loan Scheme and presentation of N550 million cheques for the empowerment of various groups and associations in Akure, the state capital.

    The governor said the scheme was conceived to sensitise, re-orientate and inculcate the spirit of self-reliance and self-sustenance in the residents.

    Akeredolu, who was briefed when he assumed office about various loan regimes in the micro-credit agency and the humongous backlog of unrecovered loans disbursed by previous governments in the state, spurred the agency to embark on a strategic plan to address lapses identified in past governments’ loan administration.

    The governor noted that the task of the agency gave birth to the new brand, called “Apalarab Micro-Credit Loan Scheme”.

    He said: “The scheme is to inculcate in our people the spirit to properly utilise credit facilities obtained from the state’s micro-credit agency, particularly on the need for them to appreciate the fact that funds disbursed should not be taken as their own share of the national cake.

    “As a fallout of our determination to lift the people of Ondo State out of poverty in the land, N550 million has been approved by our administration to be disbursed to various groups and individuals at a single digit interest rate.”

    Of the total sum, market women are to get N357.5 million (65 per cent), while men will get N192.5 million (35 per cent).

    Akeredolu said the state government had evolved a well-articulated credit management system for loan beneficiaries to ensure efficient risk management to guide against defaults so that Apalara loan scheme would be sustained.

    The governor urged the beneficiaries to genuinely apply the money.

    He added that the route to poverty eradication is through hard work, efficient management of available financial resources and positive attitude to life.

    The Chief of Imam of Akure, Alhaji Yayi Akorede, and beneficiaries of the loan scheme hailed the governor’s initiative.

    The Chief Imam described Akeredolu as a good leader in the distribution of government’s programmes to the people.

     

  • ‘Women must be involved in promoting peace, security’

    Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Mrs. Lola Akande has called on women to brace up for more active roles in maintaining peace and security.

    Mrs. Akande, who spoke at a conference titled “Women, Peace and Security”, said her Ministry organised the conference in compliance with the expectations of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for all states to hold sensitisation and enlightenment programmes.

    She added that the programme is aimed at implementing the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s Resolution 1325 passed in October 2000, which reaffirms the importance of equal participation and involvement of women in all processes of peace building, peace keeping as well as conflict resolution.

    This, according to her, is to allow women play their roles within the national and international armed conflict resolution management mechanisms since it has been shown in history that women and children are usually the most vulnerable in conflict of any kind as they suffer abuses in human rights violations.

    Read also: Women should not die of pregnancy-related diseases: Prevention (1)

    The commissioner said the assumption that women are not as critical to achieving great results in peace and conflict resolution should be debunked, since women are most often at the receiving end whenever there is breakdown of law and order in any community.

    On efforts to combat domestic violence, the commissioner said the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, through its domestic violence unit, embarks on periodic sensitisation and enlightenment campaigns to raise the consciousness of women to the fact that they can seek redress anytime violence or dehumanising treatment is meted out to them by their male counterparts.

    She added that the public, especially men, are now more aware of the consequences of violence against women, which invariably is responsible for the drop in the number of cases of domestic violence reported from 1,097 in 2017 to 659 so far in 2018.

     

  • Women should not die of pregnancy-related diseases: Prevention (1)

    In reading this article, kindly project a picture as if every woman is your daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt or friend. By so doing, you place yourself in the position of victims or relatives of victims of the issue that we are going to discuss in this article: maternal mortality.  The matter of women dying of pregnancy-related diseases should not happen and all efforts by all stakeholders (government at all levels, women themselves, families, nurses, physicians and the  nation in general) should be geared toward the prevention of maternal (and child) deaths.

    Every year in Nigeria, several thousands of women die of diseases related to pregnancy. Specifically, as at 2015 which is when the latest figures were made available, about 814 of women for every 100,000 of live births die in Nigeria every year. Nigeria is in the top tier where women and children die most in the world.  This figure only relates to live births and does not include deaths of women that occur because of abortion whereby the expelled fetus was not alive at the time of the abortion.

    Now let us translate these figures into real numbers of women dying of pregnancy related complications. About 5.3 million children are born yearly in Nigeria. This, on the face of it, does means that several thousands of women die every year because of pregnancy. In every 10 minutes, one-woman dies because of pregnancy or childbirth in Nigeria, giving about 53,000 per year.  These women are our mothers, sisters, wives, aunties, daughters, friends and family members. Sadly, maternal mortality is higher in women living in rural areas and among poorer communities of our country Nigeria. Across the various geographical zones of the country, a diverse picture presents as follows: North East 1549 women, North West 1026 women, South East 286 women, South West 165 women die per 100,000 per year.

    In the case of illegal abortion, illegal abortion rate is huge and goes on even without direct involvement of qualified healthcare workers. In fact, according to Guttmacher Institute “an estimated 1.25 million induced abortions occurred in Nigeria in 2012, equivalent to a rate of 33 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–49. The estimated unintended pregnancy rate was 59 per 1,000 women aged 15–49. Fifty-six percent of unintended pregnancies were resolved by abortion. About 212,000 women were treated for complications of unsafe abortion, representing a treatment rate of 5.6 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, and an additional 285,000 experienced serious health consequences but did not receive the treatment they needed”.

    The death of a woman relating to pregnancy is indeed a national tragedy. Let us now deal with conditions that causes women to die in circumstances relating to pregnancy. In discussing these conditions, this article will look at those conditions as relating to pregnancy.

    Women die as a result of complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these complications develop during pregnancy and most are preventable or treatable. Other complications may exist before pregnancy but are worsened during pregnancy, especially if not managed as part of the woman’s care. The major complications that account for nearly 75% of all maternal deaths are (WHO):

    • Severe bleeding (mostly bleeding after childbirth). Bleeding accounts for most of the death of women. In most cases, such bleeding and death can be prevented or treated especially if the woman reports to the physician early enough. This kind of bleeding also includes bleeding during operation to deliver the baby from the woman.
    • Infection (usually after childbirth): As a result of various reasons, infection may occur before, during or after childbirth or complicate childbirth. Again, infection also include malaria and typhoid. We may prevent or treat all of these promptly by the attending physicians.
    • High blood pressure such as pre-eclampsia and eclampsia constitute a danger to the lives of pregnant women.
    • Yet, complications from delivery (obstructed labour, uterine rupture, retained placenta, etc) are conditions that may end lives of women during pregnancy.
    • Unsafe abortion especially in unskilled and unprofessional hands may lead to internal injuries, bleeding and infection, which in turn may end the life of the pregnant woman.
    • About 5% of the Nigerian population suffers from HIV and some may lead to AIDS. These condition worsen pregnancy and could cause pregnant women to lose their lives
    • Still, only about 60% of pregnant women in Nigeria have access to ante natal care. 40% of women does not.
    • 50% of women of reproductive age have access to family planning services.
    • More worrying is the fact that age at first birth (maternal age) and how many children to have are very much influenced by the social institution of marriage and these in turn causes death of women in pregnancy. Nigerian women marry young and bear on average six children (USAID, 2006). It is believed that early marriage lowers the risk of pre-marital sexuality, as such, it is widely practiced, but at the same time ‘very early’ marriage can put the young particularly the girl at high health risks of death.
    • In next article, we shall look at more causes of women dying in pregnancy and what could all do about it.

  • 2019: 70% of my appointments ‘ll go to youths, women, says Atiku

    PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate election Atiku Abubakar, said if elected, 70 per cent of his appointments would go to youths and women.

    Abubakar said this on yesterday in Yola while addressing a group of youths who organised a solidarity rally to endorse his candidature.

    Abubakar said 40 per cent of appointments would go to youths, while 30 percent would go to women.

    “The remaining 30 per cent will be managed by the elderly,” he said.

    Read also: Shettima to Jonathan: you lied on Chibok girls

    While pleading with the youths to vote for PDP for better life, the former vice president noted that their votes were vital for his victory as they constituted 70 per cent of the nation’s voting population.

    “This election is for you; youths and women as you made up 70 per cent of Nigerian population of voting age.

    “As for me, I have achieved in life, but many of you have a long way to go; you have no house, no job. If you fail to vote PDP you will continue like that.

    “On Election Day, go and vote, protect your votes and ensure your votes count,” he said.

  • Women tasked to effect positive changes

    Women have been tasked to effect positive changes in the society by playing respective roles from politics to governance as well as empowerment.

    Speaking at the 4th Annual International Conference organised by the Women on the Frontline Empowerment Initiative (WOTFEI), the Senior Pastor, Apostle Royal Triumphant Church and Executive Director, WOTFEI, Apostle Helen Dania, who spoke on the theme “On the Frontline for Positive Changes” pointed out that women can bring about positive changes in their different countries as regards issues confronting them and proffer lasting solutions.

    The programme which was held at the Royal Triumphant Church, Iba, Lagos, had notable women in attendance.

    Aside being an advocacy group, Dania revealed that one of the  core goals is ensuring that it empowers the less-privileged and single mothers by equipping them with the stability they need emotionally, financially and mentally to be good leaders, parents and role models to their children,

    Initiative speakers/moderators for the annual discussion also elucidated more on the theme for helping the less-privileged people in the society.

    ”To reproduce woman in the frontline in a positive way, you must be a great achiever,” said Pastor Ruth Essien.

    Another speaker who is also a media personality, Pastor Nkechi Ali Balogun, spoke about woman in the frontline.” Woman in a frontline is selfless. You want to make that sacrifice because you have a goal, because you have an objective, because you have a desire too,” she said.

    She also said woman in the frontline must fight for their rights and be ready to overcome any obstacles. “Let us support ourselves as that is the foundation to greater heights,” said Pastor Nkechi Alli Balogun.

    “I am happy to know that they are people who are willing to help the charity organisation as we cater for the less-privileged, single mothers and children,” said Apostle Blessing Norbert.

    She also added that by helping them to be frontline women, it leads to positive changes in the society and their lives.

    Speaking on why it is important for women to be leaders, Pastor Dania said “Female leaders bring something different to the table, we have been known for our transformative leadership styles which are in line with qualities such as empathy, inclusiveness and an open negotiation style.