From: Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
As activities towards the 2019 general elections kick offf, Nigerian women have been enjoined to take their rightful place in the onerous task of engendering peace and preventing violence in the society.
This came to the fore at a two-day capacity building workshop for 40 women in Peace Building and Violence Prevention organised by Next Generation Youth Initiative International (NEGYII), in conjunction with CLEEN Foundation Consortium.
Speaking, on Wednesday, during the opening session of the workshop, President of NEGYII, Mr. Ambassador Onoja, noted that the role of women in peace building and violence prevention could not be over-emphasized, while maintaining that there could be no stable society without the women.
In the words of Onoja,”If you have a stable home, you are most likely to have a stable society. Women are the stronger sex because there is no man on earth that a woman does not control. Even research has proven that if women are empowered, governance will be better and easier.”
While lamenting that the problems plaguing the country from 1960 till date were mostly caused by men, Onoja noted that time had come for women to rise up to the responsibility of building peace and preventing violence in the society.
In their separate remarks, participants at the workshop, including the Chairman of Benue Non Governmental Organization Network (BENGONET), Mrs. Rachel Ityodzunguul, Lady Gladys Shaahu and Hajia Hauwa Isah stressed the need for women to train up their children and warn them against consenting to being used by politicians as political thugs in the forthcoming general elections.
“2019 is around the corner and the political terrain is becoming tense and we are saying that our children should not be used as political thugs. Any politician who needs thugs should use his own children. If they cannot use their children, they can’t use ours either.”
The women who resolved that they will keep counseling their children against blindly following or supporting politicians posited that politics is not a do or die affair noting that they were through with deceitful politicians who go to any length only to get their votes and thereafter abandon them as soon as they win elections.
Papers presented at the workshop are, ‘Role of Women in Peace Building – The Making of a Resilient Community’ delivered by Mrs. Mary Awua of the Department of Sociology, University of Jos and ‘Women, Peace and Security: Preventing Violence and Building Sustainable Peace and Resilient Communities’ by Dr. Samuel Ochinyabo of the Department of Economics, Benue State University.