Bauchi speaker launches UNESCO education programme, pledges empowerment for women, girls

Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman has launched a programme for the empowerment of women and girls in marginalized communities for better well-being through education and advocacy initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the Government of Japan.

Speaking during the launching at Command Guest House Bauchi on Thursday, the Speaker commended UNESCO and the Government of Japan for choosing Bauchi State as one of the three States in the country to benefit from the programme, saying it is a significant intervention to women and girl child, who are the most vulnerable.

Abubakar Suleiman who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Musa Bako Ningi described the programme as timely considering the negative effect of the COVID 19 Pandemic that affected and still affecting the various sectors of human endeavours such as economy; education; health and international relations among others.

He said that “We see and consider this programme as complementary to the various actions taken by the Bauchi State House of Assembly in synergy with the executive arm of the government to empower and protect women and children as well as cushion the effect of the covid-19 pandemic in Bauchi State and the country in general.”

The Speaker added that “Having noticed the increasing cases of rape and other domestic violence against women and children in the society, we, in the Assembly acted swiftly with a view to correct the anomaly by passing the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill into law which was graciously assented to by His Excellency the Executive Governor of Bauchi State Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammad.”

“The law, amongst others, prohibits all forms of violence against persons in private and public life and provides maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment for offenders. Consequently, we intensified effort through oversight functions by the relevant committees of the House, especially committee on Women Affairs to see that women and children are well protected against all forms of violence, such as rape, domestic violence etc,” he added.

Abubakar Suleiman observed that “Apart from passing the relevant laws that seek to protect women and children, the entire 31 Honourable members of the Bauchi State Assembly have also individually initiated various programmes in our various constituencies with a view to empowering women and children in the area of education, health, agriculture as well as empowerment for them to become self-reliance and self-protective against all forms of violence.”.

While urging the two bodies to use their wealth of experience, expertise, commitment and sincerity of purpose to ensure that the programme positively impacts the target group, Abubakar Suleiman assured them that they continue to use their constitutional powers as lawmakers and individual initiatives in conjunction with the Governor who also has a passion for the support and protection of women and children, to empower the girl child and womenfolk who are the backbone of every society.

In her remarks, representative of the Director, UNESCO Regional Office, Abuja Magdalene Anene-Maidoh explained that the programme is aimed at providing second chance education opportunities, incorporating training on
COVID-19 preventive measures, to women and girls, particularly adolescents at risk of dropping out of school and young women facing intersecting marginalization and planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of post basic literacy programmes at state and local government levels in Bauchi, Delta and Gombe States.

According to her, the main beneficiaries of the project are women and girls in marginalized communities who
have been hard hit with gender-based violence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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