National Assembly to Review Armed Forces, Security Acts to Ensure Gender Equity

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Relevant committees of the National Assembly, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives will soon begin a comprehensive review the Acts of the Nigerian Armed Forces and those of other security agencies in the country, to make the law  gender-responsive.

Apart from this, the amendment of the Acts of Armed Forces,  the Nigerian Police Force and that of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), will also provide social dimension to security aimed at  protecting women and children during insurgency, banditry and kidnapping.
The Director General of the National Institute For Legislative and Democratic Studies, (NILDS), Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists at the weekend.

Sulaiman said the NILDS was already working on a project tagged:  “Enhancing Gender Responsive Security Operations and Community Dialogue Project II” with support from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).
He explained that the project also  had a full support of the President of the Senate and Chairman of NILDS Governing Council, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Alternate Chairman of the Council, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.

Sulaiman said the team of NILDS experts in collaboration with the UN Women took the initiative to strengthen gender-responsive security sector policy reforms and implementation of gender policies adopted by target security institutions.
He explained that the overall objective of the  project was to sensitize the National Assembly and enlighten the security sector institutions on the need make their Laws and Acts gender-responsive.

He said: “Indeed, Nigeria’s security sector institutions are major actors not only in the prevention and response to security issues in Nigeria, but also to strategic conflict resolution and peacebuilding initiatives.
“While these security sector institutions have striven to achieve their mandates over the years, huge gender gaps are visible in their policies and operational procedures at all levels, as well as their enabling legislations.

“Yet, ensuring women’s meaningful representation in the security sector is critical to building an inclusive, responsive, and accountable security sector that reflects the diversity of the community it serves and better respond to their needs.
“This has been increasingly identified as a key strategy and supported by global normative frameworks, including the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 (2000), among other international instruments.

“As a result of this, there is need to review the security sector institution’s legislation to become more gender-responsive.
“It is against this backdrop that I am pleased to inform you all that NILDS, with the support of the UN Women is implementing the Enhancing Gender Responsive Security Operations and Community Dialogue Project II.
“This Project aims to work with the Nigerian National Assembly and identified Security Sector Institutions on the need to make their laws and Acts more gender-responsive.

“The project also seeks to strengthen gender-responsive security sector policy reforms and implementation of gender policies adopted by target security institutions.”
Sulaiman said the project specific objectives included, increased women’s effective participation in peace and security processes; peace negotiations; conflict prevention and resolution, and improved public perception of the role of women in peace and security at all levels.
He added that the project was designed in response to gaps identified in women’s representation in the security sector and the broader need for a gender-responsive approach to security operations.
He said: “This project aims to enhance gender-sensitive security sector and foster community dialogue between women affected by conflict and security sector actors.

“In order to achieve the afore-mentioned, NILDS collaborated with the National Defence College (NDC) in carrying out several advocacy visits to relevant security Committees of the National Assembly, as well as the leadership of the Nigerian Air Force, Navy, Army and NSCDC.
“This is  in order to sensitise them on the need for their laws and gender policies to be gender-responsive through the review and amending of Security Sector Institutions laws.

“Other activities implemented include, consultative meeting between NILDS and NDC with gender desk officers, a three-day Strategy meeting with Security Institutions & National Assembly Security and Women Committees Chairmen and Vice Chairmen/Clerk of committees.”
He also said that the NILDS had provided technical support to guide the sector’s gender-responsive legislative and policy reform and foster strategic engagements with the relevant committees among other activities.

He said: “NILDS/UN Women have shown commitment through the deployment of resources, technical manpower and continued advocacy in order to ensure that gender is mainstreamed into security laws and policies in Nigeria.

“This we consider very fundamental because social cohesion can only thrive in an atmosphere of inclusion, where every group in the society is being taken into consideration in the process of policy formulation and law making.

“In view of the foregoing, we hope that this project will result in Nigeria’s security sector becoming more gender-responsive, while creating a platform for women within these spaces to flourish as their male counterparts.

“More specifically, the National Assembly needs to commit itself to legislative reforms especially the Security Sector Institutions reforms in order to reflect gender-responsiveness.

“In order to ensure that the elegantly drafted legislative amendments on security sector institutions is successfully passed into law, NILDS/UN Women have engaged in several advocacy engagement with the members of the National Assembly on the need to support and accord legislative consideration of the security sector reform bills before them.

“We also have been lobbying the women and security related committees of the National Assembly to galvanize support among their colleagues on the security sector institutions reform to enhance gender responsive security operations and community dialogue.”

Sulaiman said that the NILDS had  established the Legislative Centre for Security Analysis with the mandate to critically analyse and advice the legislature on security-related policies and laws from a strategic and informed perspective.