Implementing women-centred policies

The appointment of Senator Aisha Alhassan as the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development by President Muhammad Buhari has facilitated a number of changes in the ministry.

The minister has identified the challenges faced by the poverty-stricken women, physically challenged people and vulnerable children. Statistics have revealed that feminised poverty is a challenge with over 70 per cent of the poor being women.

It is in recognition of this that the ministry is overseeing the implementation of social protection and safety net initiatives targeting about 25 million vulnerable citizens including widows, single mothers and survivors of gender-based violence and harmful practice such as VVF.

Another programme worth mentioning is  the Growing Girls and Women initiative(G-WIN). Under it, 3,000 young women farmers were trained and given farm equipment, two million women registered on the e-wallet agro-data base to receive subsidised input.

Also, 520 women and girls were trained in water management schemes and kiosk operation, together with young peer educators.The enactment of the violence against person Prohibitation (VAPP) Act is another success story.

The bill was passed into law to advance the overall well-being of women in Nigeria. Also, women’s right protection, especially in the context of insurgency in the North-East, has received special attention from the ministry.

Last year, the ministry launched a campaign against girl-child marriage in Nigeria.

It is estimated that in 2015, six million girls were married out at the age of 15. This practice has a negative psychological effect on the girl-child.

Besides denying them access to basic education, girl-child marriage exposes girls to health challenges such as VVF and other birth-related complications. The campaign will be similarly launched at the states level to ensure the message reaches the nooks and crannies of the country.

Last week, the ministry launched the revised National Action Plan for the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR 1325) and related resolutions on women peace and security in Nigeria.

UNSCR 1325 was the first official and lawful global documents to acknowledge the heavy toll on women and girls in Nigeria. The UNCS had adopted resolution 1325 13 years ago acknowledging the under representation of women in peace processes and calling on members states to rectify the issues.

• Ibrahim Mustapha

Abuja.