Tambuwal, UNDP, others seek awareness to achieve gender equality

• Ekiti opens black book for sexual offenders

• Imoke sues for strong family ties

SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has said that one of the most crucial steps in putting an end to gender inequality in the country is by creating awareness in the society about its dangers.

Tambuwal said this in Abuja on Monday at the Third National Women in Parliament Summit entitled: “Advancing the Gender Agenda in Nigeria: The Role of Lawmakers,” organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Women in Parliament in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) with the support of United Nations Development Programmes’ (UNDP) Democratic Governance for Development (DGD).

According to Tambuwal, considering the opportunity provided by modern Information and Communications Technology (ICT), we can encourage women to take advantage of this avenue not just to post issues on gender discrimination but also to access information on employment, education, health services, protection and politics, among others.

In a similar vein, Chairman, House Committee on Women in Parliament, Binta Maigari Bello, noted that the concept of democracy would only assume true and dynamic significance when political policies and national legislation are decided upon jointly by men and women with equitable regards for interest and aptitudes of both halves of the population.

UNDP/DGD Project Director, Dr. Mourtada Deme, noted that women have historically faced high levels of marginalisation in states or other territorial units going through nation-building processes, due to patriarchal political cultures, lack of financial resources, political parties with limited space for women, and other institutions and practices that limit women’s participation in politics.

Deme also noted that despite these obstacles, women have made important political contributions to nation-building. “Countries that rate most highly on the Human Development Index (HDI) are usually states where the level of gender inequality is low. States with much lower levels of human development frequently demonstrate high gender disparities,” he said.

Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, has charged Nigerians to sustain high family and moral values for a sustained positive development of youths in the society.

Imoke, who gave the charge at the weekend in Calabar during the solemnisation of the holy matrimony between Geraldine Edim and Orok Okokon Ita, said people should continue to love one another, encourage family cohesion and sustenance of the marriage institution for the development of positive social values among young people.

The governor also advised those yet to embrace the institution of marriage to continue to propagate love in expectation of love wherever they are because such values build the society and encourage development.

And in Ekiti State, the government has opened a black book called the Sexual Offenders’ Register, where a blacklist of convicted sexual offenders would be compiled.

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olawale Fapohunda, disclosed this while receiving the Gender-based Violence Prohibition Law (GBVL) management committee led by wife of the governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, in her capacity as the chairperson of the committee; and Commissioner for Women Affairs, Social Development and Gender Empowerment, Mrs. Fola Richie-Adewusi.

Mrs. Fayemi had urged the commissioner to assign GBV-related cases to lawyers adequately trained for the purpose and who are sensitive to gender issues.

She also called for the retention of such lawyers for a reasonable period of time as prosecuting GBV counsel before they are transferred to other departments of the ministry.

To give legal teeth to the GBVL, the governor’s wife requested the commissioner to ensure that gender-related cases were prosecuted under the new law.

Judging by the emotional and psychological trauma experienced by rape victims, Fapohunda said the sexual offenders’ register would ensure that perpetrators were ostracised from the society and expressed optimism that the step would serve as deterrent to men who find pleasure in assaulting women and young girls.

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