Minister of Women Affairs, Barr Uju Kennedy Ohanenye has said women in the country would no longer fold their hands and watch perpetrators of Gender-based violence (GBV) continue to threaten the lives of children.
Ohanenye, speaking at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the National Council of Women Affairs in Calabar, Cross River State, called on participants to step up the fight against gender-based violence, social and structural inequality, and other harmful practices disproportionately affecting women and children in the country.
“Whoever child is going through that kind of pain and violence is our child, and we need to step up our game on how to protect and preserve them.
“It is only a mother that can stake her life to save her child, so now we need to stake our lives to save our children generally in the country called Nigeria,” the minister fumed.
Emphasizing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), she maintained that the survivors are voiceless and defenseless hence, depend on their mothers to defend them.
“Sometimes some of them die from infections as these practices are carried out in remote villages where they lack knowledge of basic hygiene. We are going to look into these with the view to tackling them from the root.
“UNICEF has done a lot to educate these villagers, and till now, they are still adamant. All Commissioners are to be ready for a movement to sensitize them using the services of town criers in order to satisfy our consciences. After that, we get the whistleblowers, and whosoever is involved in FGM will face the wrath,” the Minister warned.
In his keynote address, Cross River Governor Prince Bassey Otu called for the liberation of the man’s mind through proper education as a deliberate effort to end GBV and its associated vices.
Otu, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Anthony Owan-Enoh, argued that men are culprits in the various violence and other issues suffered by women hence, the campaign should be focused on men rather than women.
“The person keeping the woman down is a man, the person refusing to send the woman to school is a man, the person causing inequality is a man, the person causing gender violence is the man, all the vices are men, so, if the man is the problem, the man is the one who needs to be educated to liberate the woman.
“Rather than talk to yourselves, I would want your future seminars and interaction to be geared towards men to enable them to know that woman needs to be liberated and offered equal opportunity.
Reasoning that the inequality suffered by women over the centuries needs to be reversed, the governor also advocated for more opportunities for women so as to balance the decades in which men have had more than a fair share.
“Give women more opportunities, not equal opportunities, because over the decades they (women) have been suffering,” Otu argued.
He reiterated the commitment of his administration to continue to partner with women through better policies and programs, as without them, he can not drive his ‘people first mantra.’
Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hon. Edema Irom, viewed the hosting of the event barely a week after being sworn in as timely, apt, and wonderful.
Applauding the governor for the mandate given her to serve, Irom remarked that the National Council Meeting with the theme, “Gender Equality: Bridging the social inclusion gaps for economic development in Nigeria,” wouldn’t have come at a more better time than now.
“The documents that have come out of this event, coupled with my wealth of experience, will form the basis as I drive the process of making sure that issues about women in all sectors of the economy are properly and favourably handled,” Irom said.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs Monilola Udoh, had presented a total of 129 memoranda raised at the meeting to the Minister.
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