Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Minister, Women Affairs and Social Development, Pauline Tallen, has said that the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) is fully re-positioned to play its role as lead implementer for Federal Government’s policies and programmes for women.
Tallen on Friday commended the Director-General of the NCWD, Mary Ekpere-Eta for carrying out far-reaching reforms at the Centre, which has led to significant improvement in its overall effectiveness.
The Minister who was on a formal tour of the Centre said aside from organisational reforms carried out by the Director-General, the Centre has also undergone an unprecedented level of renovation.
She therefore called on the management of the NCWD to adopt a maintenance culture that will see the Centre retain the standard which it has been elevated to. She further noted that the National Women Centre is a source of pride to Nigerian women hence the need to make it a place where women and other stakeholders can congregate to discuss matters of importance.
Tallen particularly commended Ekpere-Eta on the establishment of the Digital Dashboard on Gender Based Violence, even as she expressed satisfaction that the Centre has put in place a platform for collaboration with other relevant stakeholders to make the dashboard a veritable data base.
She called on Ekpere-Eta continue with investments that will enable the Centre achieve its vision and mission statement, especially in the area of research. This is as the minister expressed satisfaction on the introduction of artisanship programmes, the scale-up of empowerment training and the mainstreaming of ICT training as part on empowerment programmes for women.
The minister assured on improved collaboration between the NCWD and its mother ministry, as President Muhammadu Buahari places a high premium on Nigerian women.
“I commend the Centre on the empowerment programmes, the artisanship trainings taking women to sectors they aren’t known to be experts in.
“Interventions for women, doesn’t just start and end with the Centre and the ministry. We connected to other ministries as their programmes affect women too. So, we have to prioritise our collaborations with these MDAs. Women are an important group to the Buhari Administration. We form about 100 million out of our population.
“So as I commend the D-G for the good work you are doing, I ask you to do even more to impact more on the lives of our women. We have to do more, so at the end our tenure, we can beat our chest and feel proud that within the period this administration held sway, the difference is clear,” she said.
Earlier in her presentation, Ekpere-Eta listed the reforms conducted since her resumption in office. She assured that the Centre has been re-positioned to be an effective partner to relevant stakeholders.
She explained that the upgrade of facilities at the Centre is aimed at making it a rallying point for critical stakeholders.
The D-G disclosed that the centre not only has the Centre attracted new collaborators, it also has improved on its relationships with local and international donor agencies.
She explained that many more women have benefitted from trainings and empowerment programmes, same for IDPs and constituents of federal lawmakers, many more of whom now domicile their constituency at the agency due to positive feedback from beneficiaries.
The minister was accompanied on the visit by the Permanent-Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Nkiruka Anabogu and other management staff.