By Lukman Olabiyi
Governor of Bornu State, Prof. Babangana Zulum has said boosting social welfare through women empowerment intervention has become essential to address the problems of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria.
Zulum spoke yesterday at the closing of the three-day National Women Conference organised by the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO), with the theme ‘Spring Forth, Stand Out’. The conference is chaired by Mrs. Nkem Sofela
The governor who was the special guest of honour for the event, was represented by the event by Attorney-General of the state Hauwa Abubakar, said “issues of social welfare as a way of pulling many Nigerians out of poverty and tackling insecurity must be increased through women empowerment.”
According to the governor, women empowerment should top the social welfare campaign, especially seeing that ‘women are usually confronted with socio-cultural hurdles that prevent their participation in governance and development and undermine their ability to fully contribute to societal development which is exacerbated by poverty and lack of skills and formal education’.
He, therefore, advocated community leadership and civic engagement skills as essential tools that will enable young women to participate in governance and development.
He said: “Young women need to be seen as partners in governance and development. And for that to happen, we must change the men’s negative beliefs and attitude towards young women; give young women the skills and education that will enable their participation; and facilitate open communication about the barriers to young women’s participation.
“I, therefore, urge young women to encourage one another and take advantage of this support. State governments should also create and facilitate conducive environment for young women to realise their potentials. Governments must campaign assiduously against the trafficking of young women and children with a view to preventing this ugly trend and inhuman activity.”
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was also represented by Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, noted that women are very significant in building a virile nation.
He added: “Women are extremely significant in nation-building. And just like they say, no woman no nation. If we must then realise the nation of our dreams then, women must pull people together to vote for competence and precedent in the person of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as president in the 2023 elections.
“We are a nation of history but we have forgetten our history and westernised ourselves, and so broken our developmental trend. We must however bring this back by employing people who have precedents to do the work. If we want a nation that our children and grandchildren will he happy with, it is time to vote for a man who has done it before. There is no two ways about it, we must look at what people have done and how they did it. That person remains Bola Tinubu.
“We are not being sentimental, we just want to move our nation forward. We belong to the nations of the disciplined and respected. Nigerians are a very important people and the future of the black man in the world rests on Nigeria.”
Lagos First Lady Mrs. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu thanked the attendees and participants for their contributions to making the conference a success. She also urged them to make use of all they learnt so they can be better positioned to ‘Spring Forth and Stand Out.