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Speaker Abbas reiterates 10th House resolve on women's inclusion in governance

Katsina City News
13 Dec, 2023
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...commits to passage of Gender Equal Opportunities Bill

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen Ph.D has reiterated the resolve by the Green Chamber House to take necessary legislative actions, including constitutional amendments, to ensure women's inclusion in governance and the parliament as obtained in advanced democracies.

Already, the Speaker noted, the House has taken deliberate steps to give prominent place to women in the Legislative Agenda recently unveiled by the House.

The Speaker stated this during a 1-day stakeholders' roundtable on Wealth and Empowerment for Women Initiative (WeWin) organized by the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development.

Speaker Abbas described women empowerment and wealth creation as a global concern.

Represented by the Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Adewunmi Onanuga, the Speaker said the roundtable conference was one of the avenues needed to join forces with the global community to drive the vision of creating an enabling platform for women empowerment through wealth creation as well as inclusion in governance.

He commended the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for dedicating 20 percent of ministerial appointments to Nigerian women in addition to increasing the number of women heading top government agencies in line with the 'Renewed Hope Agenda' of the present administration.

"The present administration took the bold step at its inauguration and gave women over 20% in ministerial appointments, just as the statistics of women heading different agencies of government is increasing".

He said WeWin is an initiative that deserved every support to succeed, saying that the 10th House of was committed to passing the Gender Equal Opportunities Bill (GEOB), to be followed by strengthening oversight of government institutions to ensure full compliance with the National Gender Policy.

In a welcome address, the chairman of House Committee on Women Affairs and social development, Hon. Kafilat Adetola Ogbara, said WeWin has initiated important conversation for women in agriculture, health, Information Technology, skills acquisition trainings and other businesses.

She said the empowerment is a social and economic necessity, adding that when women are empowered, they contribute significantly to the growth and development of their communities and the nation.

Hon. Ogbara tasked stakeholders at the conference to ensure sustainability of policies and initiatives to provide short-term solutions, while ensuring that the long-term impact contribute to the overall well-being of women and the society at large.

In a remark, the Minister of Women Affairs, Bar. Uju Kennedy, said women's issues should be considered critical considering the role they play in the society.

She urged women to step up their game and find solutions to their problems as part of efforts at nation-building.

The minister challenged donors on women issues to follow up on their donations to ensure that they were utilized for that purpose.

There were goodwill messages from the Director General of the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development, representatives of the Dangote Foundation, women in business and many others.