…urges Stakeholders to go beyond advocacies to empowerment.
The Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, Barrister (Mrs) Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye has called on Development Partners and Stakeholders in the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to step it up, by going beyond the level of advocacy to empowerment of victims with a view to making them self-reliant, productive and entrepreneurial.
The Minister made the call today in Abuja during a One day National Strategic Knowledge Management Coordination Committee Meeting on Gender Based Violence in Nigeria, organized by the Ministry in collaboration with the Fred Foundation for Resilient Empowerment and Development.
She observed that since the campaign against GBV was launched in Nigeria in 2022, a lot of efforts have been put into the creation of awareness and education on the menace with a view to sensitizing women, children and the society at large on its consequences and how to avert it.
Represented by the Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister on Private Sector and Political Matters, Engr. Adaji Usman, Ohanenye-Kennedy stressed the need to make conscious efforts to identify the level of empowerment so far given to victims of GBV after advocacies have been done in order to ascertain the level of successes recorded.
The Minister who explained that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration focuses among other things on finding solutions to social vices such as GBV with the aim of tackling it headlong, expressed the Ministry’s willingness to partner with relevant agencies in order to ensure the empowerment of women, children as well as the vulnerable, in line with its mandate.
While commending the Development Partners for the efforts made so far in creating awareness and education on GBV, Barrister Kennedy Ohanenye assured that the Ministry under her watch, will ensure that the Gender Agenda is well positioned for the socio-economic growth and development of the nation.
She therfore called on them to continue to support the efforts of the federal government in the realization of its policy objectives.
Speaking earlier, the Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mr Francis Olabisi
stated that the Coordination Meeting aims at identifying and integrating new members for enhanced information and intelligence sharing in order to increase accountability across the various sectors for a more effective response to Gender-Based Violence.
He assured that the Ministry will continue to create an enabling environment for the full implementation of the policies, programmes and initiatives of the Federal government that has direct impact on women, children and the vulnerable in the society in order to make them self reliant and also alleviate poverty amongst them.
Participants at the meeting were drawn from Ministries of Justice, Health, Labour and Productivity, Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation, National Orientation Agency (NOA) as well as Development Partners, among others.
Signed
Mrs. Grace Njoku
Head, Press and Public Relations
