By Palma Ileye
Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has highlighted Federal Governmet’s efforts to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality in the country.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim disclosed this during a Press conference held, yesterday to commemorate the 2025 International Women’s Day, IWD, at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja.
The International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8th, March annually.
She averred that this year’s global theme of the celebration; “Accelerate Action” was aimed at reflecting, advocacy and action towards surmounting the myriad of challenges militating against female inclusion and the attendant consequences of lack of social cohesion.
She emphasized the importance of celebrating women’s achievements and contributions to society noting that the International Women’s Day was a time to recognize the progress made towards gender equality, while also acknowledging the challenges that still lie ahead.
She acknowledged the roles of previous women who laid their lives for the advancement of women’s rights notably the Aba Women’s riots of 1929 and the Aba Women’s Revolt of 1937.
“We cannot talk about progress without acknowledging those who paved the way. As we mark this milestone, we must honor the fearless women who stood against oppression and injustice, from Pre-independence trailblazers like Chief Margaret Ekpo, Chief (Mrs.) Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and Hajiya Gambo Sawaba.
“We also remember the legacies of Her Excellency Dr. Maryam Abacha, who led Nigeria’s delegation to the 1995 Beijing Conference, and Her Excellency Dr. (Mrs.) Maryam Babangida, whose Better Life Programme for Rural Women revolutionized grassroots empowerment. Their work reminds us that change is not given; it is demanded and earned through persistence and resilience,” she added.
She highlighted some of the Ministry’s initiatives to empower women and girls, with these initiatives to include education and skills development programmes, economic empowerment schemes, and health and wellness initiatives.
She said, “With these increased resources, we will prioritize the resuscitation of one of the Ministry’s legacy project, the National electronic dashboard launched as part of a collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs under the European Union-United Nations, EU-UN, Spotlight Initiative to provide comprehensive data to help tackle gender-based violence in November 2020 and the inter-ministerial technical committee on GBV.
“We will expand programmes on women’s economic empowerment, promote digital skills acquisition for girls, scale up family cohesion programmes, revitalize child protection and participation and unlock new opportunities for women through the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, amongst others.
“We will prioritize legislative advocacy, the economic empowerment of women, girls’ education, and the fight against gender-based violence.”
The Minister also emphasized the importance of partnerships and collaborations in promoting women’s empowerment stating that, “We are working closely with various stakeholders, including NGOs, community leaders, and the private sector, to ensure that our initiatives are effective and sustainable.”
She concluded by calling on all Nigerians to join hands in promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality saying, “Let us work together to create a society where women and girls have equal opportunities to succeed and reach their full potential.”
Furthermore, she called for the urgent need to sustain the declaration of the state of emergency on Gender-Based Violence, GBV, embarked upon in 2020 by the Nigeria’s Governors Forum in the wake of high number of such cases in the midst of lockdown of COVID-19 and increase the fight to stop Female Gender Mutilation and Cutting, FGM/C, saying that these pattern of violence must be decisively addressed.
