The Nation Newspaper

Tag: women

  • Women outclass men at UNILAG pharmacists’ induction

    Women outclass men at UNILAG pharmacists’ induction

    Female pharmacy graduands of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos (UNILAG),  stood tall at the 30th induction of the Faculty, which held last week at the main auditorium of the university.

    The ladies had every reason to feel proud: Five of them bagged five out of the six first class grades recorded by the class of 138 new pharmacists.

    Last session also, the eight distinctions in the faculty were claimed by female students.

    Odunayo Abdulai was the overall best at last week’s event.  She bagged four out of the five awards given. A feat, she claimed, was made possible by God’ and the support of her classmates and family.

    She said she had a balanced social and academic life in school and was always ready to teach others, as it helped her to learn more.

    Miss Abdulai, who wanted to be a community pharmacist, advised National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)  and other health regulation agencies to pay closer attention to the import and administration of drugs to curb drug abuse and trafficking in Nigeria.

    She said: “They should allow us who are trained and have sworn to the oath to do our job because that is why we received the training and nobody can take our place. There is a need to regulate the system from production even to distribution and conduct regular checks on medical service providers.”

    Welcoming the participants at the induction, the Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Prof Olukemi Odukoya, dispensed the tenets of true education.

    “Education is impossible without the habitual vision of greatness and of the three main aspects of university work, which include the advancement of knowledge, training men and women for professions and the enrichment of the lives of students,” she said.

    Chief Executive Officer (CEO)  of Healthplus Pharmacy and an alumnus of the faculty, Mrs Bukky George, spoke about the ingredients of successful entrepreneurship while delivering the keynote speech.

    “A spoonful of talent, education and drive… be comfortable with who you are, do not pretend to be who culture or society demands, do not hold grudges, help others and stop taking things personally,” she said.

    Mrs George charged the new pharmacists to have “big, hairy, audacious goals and do something ordinary in an extraordinary way”.

    She also pledged N1 million for projects and equipment needed by the inductees in the near future.

     

  • Women are ‘major victims of domestic violence’

    Domestic violence is on the rise, with women as major victims a Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Grace Ijarogbe, has said.

    She said most domestic violence went unreported because of cultural background, family set up and economic constraints.

    Ijarogbe spoke at a conference organised by the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), the Federal Neuro-Psychiatry Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, with the theme: Violence against women: The psychological consequences.

    Violence, she said, usually went unreported because the perpetrators seemed to be at an advantage than the victims.

    Explaining further, she said: “When violence is committed against a woman, she feels worthless. She suffers low esteem, and if the abuse continues, she may develop depression, fear and anxiety.” The consultant said the girl-child should be well groomed to feel equal to the male counterpart.

    Besides, they should be empowered to be independent, adding that this would reduce violence in the home.

    The ARD President, Dr Olusegun Akinwotu, said mental disorders is reduced by 50 per cent if violence against women is eradicated.

    On what to do, she advised that laws that protect women should be implemented to reduce domestic violence.

    “These laws are inherent in our constitution but need to be upheld and implemented. The law enforcement agents should take necessary action against perpetuators of violence. It will go a long way to reduce the trend.”

    Former Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Olufemi Olugbile called for laws that will ensure that women are protected against domestic violence.

    Quoting the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, Olugbile said about 1.3 million women are assaulted by an intimate partners yearly.

    The psychiatrist said: “Also, 25 per cent of women will experience violence in their lifetime and for how long will such cases continue. Should we not put in place more stringent and serious mechanisms to curb and discourage violence in the homes, particularly against women?”

    He said several studies had shown that there was a correlation between development and the treatment of women in a society.

    “It is, therefore, imperative that in addition to the plans being made to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), our leaders must reform the laws to protect women who are violated.

    “It is common knowledge that the state and its various institutions are, especially crucial in ensuring that its citizens are protected and have access to the basic necessities of life,’’ he said.

    Adequate knowledge and information through sensitisation and campaigns would help to reduce cases of domestic violence, Olugbile said.

  • Buhari restates his plan for women

    Buhari restates his plan for women

    The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has restated his commitment to the empowerment of women.

    He promised to begin by ensuring that the rights of women as guaranteed by the constitution are protected under his government.

    This was contained in a message to Nigerian women, in commemoration of the March 8, 2015 International Women’s Day.

    “My plan for Nigerian women has been made clear in ‘My Manifesto and Vision for Nigeria’.

    “However, I would like to use this special opportunity that the world has set aside to celebrate women, to reiterate my personal commitment to the advancement of Nigerian women in Nigeria and in the Diaspora,” Gen. Buhari said.

    In the manifesto released to the media last year December, the APC presidential candidate guaranteed that women would be adequately represented in government appointments.

    He also promised to provide greater opportunities for females in education, job creation, and economic empowerment.

    “I will recognise and protect women empowerment and gender equality with special emphasis on economic activities in the rural areas,” he said.

    Gen. Buhari added that he would use the party structures to promote the concept of reserving a minimum number of seats in the states and National Assembly for women.

    “Women all over the world are playing an ever-increasing role in moving their nations forward both in and outside government.

    “In keeping with the times, my government will ensure that Nigerian women are given the opportunity to rise and play an even more prominent role in moving out great nation forward,” he said.

  • Akpabio’s wife seeks more roles for women in governance

    Akpabio’s wife seeks more roles for women in governance

    The wife of Akwa Ibom Governor, Mrs Unoma Akpabio, yesterday advocated for adequate involvement of women in the governance of the country at all levels.

    Mrs Akpabio spoke at a thanksgiving held at the Apostolic Church, Uyo, as part of activities marking the 2015 International Women’s Day, said that women should not be seen as house wives only.

    The wife of the Governor said that the theme for this year which is “Empowering Women- Empowering Humanity: Picture it!” was apt, and needed to be implemented by everybody.

    “Empowering womanhood will not only mean progress for women, but also progress for humanity in general because when women are well positioned economically, socially and politically, the family and the community are also empowered,” she said.

    She said that the women of the state had broken gender barriers to emerge as trusted partners with their male counterparts in the business of governance in the state.

    “Today, we have an unprecedented number of Akwa Ibom women in elective and appointive positions, a tribute to the gender-responsive disposition of the Akpabio administration.” She added.

    The wife of the governor also said that the current administration had significantly reduced maternal mortality through its free medical care programme for pregnant women.

    She also noted that thousands of women had benefitted from empowerment programmes, such as the Women Agro-Entrepreneurship Development Programme (WAEDEP) and several loans and grants .

  • APC committed to women empowerment, says Buhari

    Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari has restated his commitment to the empowerment of Nigeria women.
    He promised to ensure that the rights of women as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution, are protected under his government.
    In his message to Nigerian women in commemoration of the International Women’s Day, Buhari promised to provide greater opportunity for Nigerian women when elected, especially in the areas of education, job creation and economic development.
    He said : “My plan for Nigerian women has been made clear in ‘My Manifesto and Vision for Nigeria’. However, I would like to use this special opportunity that the world has set aside to celebrate women, to reiterate my personal commitment to the advancement of Nigerian women in Nigeria and in the Diaspora.”
    In his ‘My Manifesto and Vision for Nigeria’ document released to the media in December 2014, General Buhari guaranteed that women will be adequately represented in government appointments. He also promised to provide greater opportunities for females in education, job creation, and economic empowerment.
    He said further that “I will recognize and protect women empowerment and gender equality with special emphasis on economic activities in the rural areas”, adding that he would use the party structures to promote the concept of reserving a minimum number of seats in the States and National Assembly, for women.
    “Women all over the world are playing an ever increasing role in moving their nations forward both in and outside government. In keeping with the times, my government will ensure that Nigerian women are given the opportunity to rise and play an even more prominent role in moving out great nation forward,” he said.
    However, while marking the day with women at the headquarters of the APC Presidential Presidential Campaign Council, Buhari’s wife, Aisha asked Nigerian women to vote wisely during the forth coming elections, saying APC remains the party that would protect the interest of women in the country.
    Hajia Buhari who was represented by the Wife of Nasarawa state Governor Hajia Mairo Al-Makura, maintained that explained that issues that revolves around women empowerment had been incorporated into the APC manifesto.
    She assured that the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket would would uphold the theme of the international women day which revolves around women empowerment.
    “We assure Nigerian women that the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket is the ticket to vote for. It is the ticket that would usher in the desired change in the life of our women and by extension that of our children who all require basic amenities like hospitals, schools, and security of lives and properties.
    “Under an APC led administration, there would no misery and poverty in the land. I thereby appeal to our women to vote wisely for the needed change to come.”
    She told women to live a virtuous life worthy of emulation, adding that if her husband is elected President, she will dedicate herself to the pursuit of the implementation of policies and programmes geared towards the upliftment of the Nigerian women.

  • Int’l Women’s Day 2015: IFAD-RUFIN empowers rural women for better livelihood

    Int’l Women’s Day 2015: IFAD-RUFIN empowers rural women for better livelihood

    All around the world, March 8 recognised as International Women’s Day represents an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality.  “Make It Happen” is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day celebration and this is very apt to encourage effective action for empowering and recognising women in all spheres of endeavours.

    Rural women make significant contributions to their local economies, and to global trade, as smallholder farmers, entrepreneurs and labourers. They are responsible for producing and processing food, and feeding and caring for family members ? particularly children and the elderly. They also generate income and contribute to the overall well-being of their households.

    However, in many countries, rural women continue to face discrimination in access to agricultural assets, education, health, employment and other services. Such obstacles prevent them from fully enjoying their fundamental rights and opportunities for growth. Studies have shown that rural women form the backbone of the agricultural labour force across much of the developing world. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), increasing productivity on female-headed farms by 20 to 30 percent would raise national productivity by 2.5 to 4 percent in developing countries, which, in turn, could end chronic hunger for as many as 100 to 150 million people.

    To address the many challenges that rural women face, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Federal Government of Nigeria financed Rural Finance Institution building project (RUFIN) is working to empower women through linkages to financial institutions to access credit to start up or expand their enterprises as well as capacity building. These trainings focused on skills acquisition, business plans, financial literacy, new technologies among others. In RUFIN interventions, women are mainstreamedto participate actively in trainings, group formations and linkages to financial institutions to improve their income generation.

    Success stories from RUFIN focal states indicate that tremendous changes have been recorded with womenleveraging on their savings and /or earnings for increased productivity, contributing to higher incomes and ultimate wellbeing of the women and their households.

    For example, women who were trained on the use of Gender Action Learning Systems methodology to develop business plans and market analysis showed to have gained more respect from men who have seen that power shift will also encourage the women to do more.

    Even though women development varies from community to community, the small changes recorded have made impact on their social status. Their morale have been boosted and most men feel comfortable in allowing their women to contribute financially to meet the household responsibilities.

    RUFIN is using the Village Savings and Credit Groups (VSCGs) model to improve internal savings and lending practice among women group in its focal states. Since the inception of the RUFIN programme in 2010, a total of N22,223,830.00 million have been mobilised by women alone through internal saving culture which is highly promoted by RUFIN and N18,445,558.00 as internal credits in the women groups.

    Among RUFIN mentored groups is Ifesowapo Women group in Epe, Lagos state. The group is into fish farming, vegetable farming, piggery as their source of livelihood. These women were financial excluded as they had no micro-finance institution in their area. According to them before the intervention of RUFIN programme, they used to hire canoes and other fishing equipment for their business and were recording low returns on their investment but through the training on financial literacy and linkage to financial institution, the group have been able to access credit to grow their business and as a result their income and general livelihood have improved.

    This year, the international community is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995. International Women’s Day 2015, observed on 8 March, is therefore a special occasion to celebrate achievements made since Beijing and to take action on meeting the remaining challenges to women’s empowerment and gender equality.

     

  • What women want

    In commemoration of the International Women’s Day marked worldwide today, the mmessage of Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, for the 2015 is hereby reproduced.
    The message sums up what has been done and what is still required to needs to be done to accomplish gender equity and ‘Planet 50:50’ before 2030.

    In 1995, at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, world leaders committed to a future where women are equal.

    One hundred and eighty nine countries and 4,000 civil society organizations, attended the conference.

    Women left Beijing with high hopes, with a well-defined path towards equality, and firm commitments at the highest level. Their hope was that we would see this by 2005.

    Today, not one single country has achieved equality. It is more urgent than ever that we define – and stick to – a time frame.

    There has been some progress in the last 20 years – although it has been slow and uneven.

    Countries have narrowed the gender gap in education and some have even reached gender parity in school enrolment.

    They have reduced the toll of maternal mortality and morbidity. Many more women survive pregnancy and childbirth than in 1995.

    Many countries have created institutions that address gender inequality. Many have passed laws against gender-based discrimination. Many have made domestic violence a crime.

    This is all good news.

    And yet we are still a long way from achieving equality between men and women, boys and girls.

    Implementation of good policies has been patchy. Allocation of the resources needed for effective implementation has been insufficient to fund women’s ministries, gender commissions, gender focal points, and gender-responsive budgeting.

    For too many women, especially in the least-developed countries, not enough has changed.

    In Africa, 70 per cent of crop production depends on women yet women still own only 2 per cent of the land.

    Violence against women continues to blight lives in all countries of the world.

    And no country has achieved gender equality.

    Women need change and humanity needs change. This we can do together; women and girls, men and boys, young and old, rich and poor.

    The evidence is overwhelming of the benefits that equality can bring. Economies grow, poverty is alleviated, health status climbs, and communities are more stable and resilient to environmental or humanitarian crises.

    Women want their leaders to renew the promises made to them. They want leaders to recommit to the Beijing Declaration, to the Platform for Action, and to accelerated and bolder implementation.

    They want more of their leaders to be women. And they want those women, together with men, to dare to change the economic and political paradigms. Gender parity must be reached before 2030, so that we avert the sluggish trajectory of progress that condemns a child born today to wait 80 years before they see an equal world.

    Today, on International Women’s Day, we call on countries to “step it up” for gender equality, with substantive progress by 2020. Our aim is to reach ‘Planet 50:50’ before 2030.

    The world needs full equality in order for humanity to prosper.

    Empower women, empower humanity. I am sure you can picture an equal world!

  • Access Bank lifts women with ICT skills

    Access Bank lifts women with ICT skills

    As part of its capacity building initiative, the Access Bank Plc has concluded plans to boost the skills of women in the area of information and communication technology (ICT).

    The Group Managing Director of the bank, Herbert Wigwe, who disclosed this during the Women’s History Month Launch in Lagos, at the weekend, said the training would equip the women on the relevance of information technology. This, he said, would enhance their capability in information technology handling.

    He said the role of women in the economic development of the nation cannot be overemphasised, hence the need for the training.

    The programme was organised by the Public Affairs Section of the United States Consulate General, Lagos in partnership with Ideas Builders Initiative and Access Bank Plc.

    Wigwe said the training would last for a period of twelve months, assuring that the bank would upgrade the information and communication technology (ICT) systems to provide better services and build a more robust ICT platform as well as upgrade the branch networks and facilities to serve the growing number of clients and further improve the working environment of its staff.

    Besides, he said the bank hopes to develop its distribution channel infrastructure to provide better and more efficient services to clients as well as augment its working capital to expand its loan book in its medium term strategic objectives.

    Wigwe said as the Nigerian banking industry becomes more and more competitive, it would increase its market share by developing products that would offer better value and by showing better understanding of individual customer needs.

    While lauding the initiative behind the programme, the presidential candidate of KOWA Party, Prof. Remi Sonaiya, said the Ideas Builders’ Initiative, a nongovernmental organisation, deserves commendation for focusing attention on women, agriculture and rural community development.

    She also lauded the organisation for scaling up its women programme ultimately to make women succeed first as individuals before taking up other roles in the society.

    Of note, she said, was the organisation’s plans to extend its tentacles to secondary schools, a development, she emphasised, that was well thought out.

    The highpoints of the occasion was the launch of the ‘School Vegetable Gardening Project’ targeting public schools in the four geo-political zones of the country.

  • Goodluck Jonathan’s women rally

    Goodluck Jonathan’s women rally

    WOMEN AT THE GOODLUCK JONATHAN WOMEN CAMPAIGN RALLY IN SOKOTO ON TUESDAY (3/3/15). 1127/3/3/15/MNB/BJO/AIN/NANWOMEN AT THE GOODLUCK JONATHAN WOMEN CAMPAIGN RALLY IN SOKOTO ON TUESDAY. NAN
    WOMEN AT THE GOODLUCK JONATHAN WOMEN CAMPAIGN RALLY IN SOKOTO ON TUESDAY (3/3/15).
    1127/3/3/15/MNB/BJO/AIN/NANWOMEN AT THE GOODLUCK JONATHAN WOMEN CAMPAIGN RALLY IN SOKOTO ON TUESDAY. NAN
  • Anambra women mobilise for Jonathan

    Anambra women mobilise for Jonathan

    Women leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State,

    led by Senator Joy Emodi, yesterday held a meeting in Awka to re-strategise on how to deliver President Goodluck Jonathan in next month’s election.

    Other prominent women at the meeting were first woman governor, Dame Virgy Etiaba, Mrs. Ifeoma Ekwueme, wife of ex-Vice President Alex Ekwueme.

    There is also former Commissioner for Women’s Affairs, Mrs. Jane Ekwochi and Nonye Nwangwu.

    The closed-door meeting, presided over by Senator Emodi, lasted for more than two hours at the Jonathan’s presidential campaign office in Awka.

    Briefing reporters, Senator Emodi said the women would move to the grassroots with newly-established committees by next week.

    She said following the postponement of the elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the women would campaign for Jonathan.

    According to her, “it is a meeting of state and local government PDP women leaders and opinion moulders in Anambra to re-strategise on the polls, especially the presidential election.

    “This is part of the national women campaign organisation for President  Jonathan.

    “Because of the change in the dates of the elections, we identified the challenges and came out with a panacea.”

    About 4,000 women attended the meeting. A similar one was held two weeks ago by the men, led by Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka.