N’Assembly Pledges Gender Responsive Budgeting for Nigerian Women

* Group hails Benue lawmaker’s efforts in tackling insecurity 

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja 

The two chambers of the National Assembly has assured the Nigerian women of Gender Responsive Budgeting in coming fiscal years. 

The assurance was separately made by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas.

They spoke in Abuja at the beginning of a two-day workshop on the role of legislators in enhancing gender responsive legislations and budgeting in Nigeria.

The forum was organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in collaboration with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) for female parliamentarians in Nigeria. 

The president of the Senate, represented by Senator Sunday Karimi, said equitable and inclusive society is part of the legislative agenda of the 10th Senate, which has  gender responsive budgeting as parts of its cardinal goals. 

“The Senate and by extension, the National Assembly, will ensure gender responsive budgeting every fiscal year in making Nigeria equitable and inclusive society for all,” he said.

Making a similar assurance, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, represented by the House Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere, said the House was committed to gender responsive budgeting and representation.

Abbas said: “In the House of Representatives, our commitment goes beyond gender responsive budgeting to gender representation as obtainable in other countries of the world .

“The current statistics which show that women representation in the current 10th National Assembly is 3.91%, as against 23.8% in Kenya, 33.81% in Uganda, 37.5% in Tanzania etc, do not portray Nigeria in good light and shall surely be looked into legislatively ahead of the 2027 general election.”

In his welcome address, the Director General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said the collaborative workshop is apt and timely considering the increasing advocacy for gender mainstreaming and Gender Responsive Budgeting.

According to him, the overall objective of the workshop is to create a platform for discussions and actions to advance Gender Responsive Budgeting in Nigeria, with the ultimate goal of creating a society where everyone, regardless of gender, has equal opportunities and access to resources. 

He said: “There is no doubt that Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) brings together gender equality and public financial management initiatives, and seeks to improve the results of budgets in general and to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

“Gender Responsive Budgeting also focuses on key economic and social issues that are often overlooked in conventional budget, policy analysis and decision-making. 

“It remains a critical tool for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. It involves assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating government budgets with a gender perspective to ensure that public resources are used to reduce gender disparities and promote equitable outcomes.”

Elected female lawmakers at both the federal and state levels attended the workshop.

Meanwhile, the National League For the Defence of Democracy and Accountability, has commended the efforts by the senator representing Benue North East in the 10th Senate, Emmanuel Udende, in deploying legislative intervention to tackle insecurity in the state.

The group, in a statement Tuesday by its National President, Prof. John Katung, explained that Udende first brought the attention of the world to the on-going carnage through motions and sponsorship of bills that seek to address the entire insecurity, terrorism and other vices.

It therefore called on the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, to purge himself of baseless allegations and unnecessary blame game over the continued killings of innocent people in Benue State.

The group challenged him to address the situation headlong and approach the Federal Government for necessary support and assistance.

It particularly expressed disappointment at comments credited to Alia for consistently shifting the blame on “Abuja-based politicians” rather than collaborating with the Federal Government to flush out miscreants and prosecute those instigating the mayhem.