From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has blamed the rising insecurity in Nigeria on injustice and the failed family system occasioned by the indifference to the role of women in nation-building.
Senator Okorocha, who spoke while receiving an Award of Excellence from the United Business Women Association of Nigeria and Diaspora, noted that women have a critical role to play in the security of the country by impacting moral and family values in the children.
He said that for Nigeria to pull out of the current security and economic challenges, women must be empowered and carried along in governance and policy making.
‘A woman is a special creation by God. They are givers and custodians of life. Nations that ignore their women are considered failed nations, while nations that make good use of their women are called developed nations. So, if Nigeria must rise again, then we must make a turn around and look at the women. If we don’t carry them along, then we are in for a very serious trouble,’ the senator stated.
Senator Okorocha further argued that ‘if any nation must get it right, it has to start from the family. It’s the bad family system that we have today that has given rise to insurgency and other criminality in the country. No sane woman who gave birth to a child will allow the child to go astray.
‘We have not taken care of the women and we have not empowered them. Whatever you give a woman is what you get in return. While men have succeeded in dividing this country along religious and ethnic lines, the women have remained a force of unity. For as long as we have not empowered the women in the house to give us good family, for as long as our politicians continue on the path of injustice, insurgency, kidnapping will never stop.’
President of the Association Mrs Nkiruka Madu, in presenting the award, said the former governor was selected for the award as a result of his philanthropic lifestyle, especially the empowerment of women and free education for indigent children across the country.