Stakeholders Call for Multifaceted Approach in Advancing Women’s Rights

Alex Enumah in Abuja

A cross-section of women have called for the adoption of a multifaceted approach, in the pursuit and advancement of their rights. Besides, the women have called for the promotion of national machineries and policies, that eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and the girl child.

They spoke in Abuja, at the opening of the 2023 Law Week of the Abuja Branch of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA).

In her Keynote Address, rights activist, Mrs Imaobong Ladipo-Sanusi, called for stronger collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as traditional and religious leaders in the promotion of women’s rights.

Ladipo-Sanusi who lamented that not much has been realised regarding the protection of women’s rights, noted that with effective public awareness and collaboration, traditional and religious leaders can help promote women’s participation in politics.

While calling the strengthening of agencies that promote women’s rights, she warned women against oppressing and working against their fellow women. She further warned against the use of young girls as house helps, pointing out that, “if you do, you are cutting short their lives”.

Also speaking, a former lawmaker in the Benue State House of Assembly and former Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, Hon Ngunan Adingi, appealed to parents, especially mothers, to reconsider the ways they raise their children, especially the male children, as that goes a long way in determining how they treat the female gender in future.

While observing that, “a lot of women don’t know that the gender equality right is for their benefit”, Adingi sought for more empowerment of women especially in the rural communities.

In her welcome remarks, the Chairperson of FIDA (Nigeria) Abuja Branch, Maureen Chibuzor Nwosu, urged critical stakeholders to beam the searchlight on national machineries that promote the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. She also charged women to set goals and targets in which these machineries can work to their benefit, and institutionalise women’s interests in all areas and sectors of policy at all levels.

Chairperson of the Law Week Committee, Chioma Onyenucheya-Uko, urged women to retrospect on the traditional, social, legislative, legal, political and other mechanisms relating to women’s rights.

“Are there gaps that militate against the true advancement of women’s rights in Nigeria? What progressive developmental steps are expedient to remedy the gaps, if any? Whose role is it to bridge these gaps, and when, she queried.”

The theme of the Law Week was: “A 2023 Reflection on Institutional Mechanisms for Advancing Women’s Rights in Nigeria”.