Ensuring Rights
of Nigerian Women
Managing Partner Edward Ekiyor and Co., Tonbofa Eva Ashimi,
Jummai
Alhassan, drawing the minister’s attention to the
issues of rape, pedophilia, violence and
discrimination which
women are faced
with in Nigeria
Dear
Honourable Minister,
I write
to provide some guidance on the value of your
position
to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government
of change and some vital steps that you must
take.
The
Ministry of Women Affairs “the Ministry” seems to
be regarded as a vehicle for simply
“organising” women’s
of the
First Lady of the Federation. The Ministry’s
duties
are far more encompassing, they include: ensuring
women,
girl rights are protected, and even those of the disabled.
In assessing the performance of your
predecessors vis-à-vis
the
Ministry’s duties, I will score them low since the Nigerian
girl-child,
youth and women are still living with or fighting issues
that
infringe on their basic human rights. I call on you to
understand
the expectations from your Ministry and plan mechanisms
to meet
these expectations urgently. I will below address certain
issues
the Nigerian female gender face through various stages
of
their development and suggest some solutions you should consider.
The Girl-Child
The
Nigerian girl-child is shocked from her innocence as early as
two
years old by abusive adults. Due to the pervasiveness of the
Internet,
we are constantly shocked by stories of girls/babies being
defiled
by those entrusted with protecting them. It is generally
known
that pedophilia has been part of our society for years, social
media
is simply outing it. Just as the whole world is doing, it is time for
Nigeria
to take a strong stance against pedophilia. We have been
experiencing
cases of girls being kidnapped from their homes and
forced
to marry their captors and bear their children. In some cases,
the
girls have been said to consent to the marriages. Various attempts
that
have been taken to increase age of consent for the girl-child have
been
met with stiff resistance in the legislature. The Ministry of Woman
Affairs
needs to keep the fight on this going.
Young Ladies
The
constant sexual harassment young ladies in Nigerian
universities
suffer from lecturers is now a known fact.
It is
the norm for university students to have to consider
exchanging
their bodies for exam scores from their lecturers.
The
federal legislature recognised this fact and is considering
mechanisms
for addressing this social problem through the laws.
Incidences
of rape and sexual assaults are rising. Victims do not
report
due to public shame, ridicule- from even the police-
and
character assassination.
Women
Work
place sexual harassment is now fixed in our society.
Women
are subjected to assaults from bosses, colleagues,
customers/clients.
There are some claims that female
marketers
are encouraged by their companies to give in to
sexual
assaults to win accounts. This is wrong and should be
condemned
by all, led by the Ministry of Women Affairs.
Discrimination
amongst women in appointments- in public
offices
especially- is widely known and seems to be so accepted
that
even our courts have opined that discrimination against
women
can be legal. (Tonbofa Ashimi v FCC &Ors, now on appeal).
Solutions
Madam,
the good thing is your work has already been simplified
for you
and yours is one of the Ministries that cannot hide
behind
“no budget/funds” as an excuse for inertia. There
are
tons of organisations that will sponsor any endeavour you
commence
to tackle any of the above social ills Nigerian females
face.
There are also orgnaisations already involved in tackling
these
issues that will eagerly partner with your Ministry. Some
solutions
you should consider include:
Education
The
girl-child, young lady and woman need to be educated in
the
mainstream manner, but especially on their value. Your
Ministry
should collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Education
and States to ensure the girl-child is
educated and there
is an active curriculum in schools geared at
teaching the girl-child
their
value. There are organisations that already embark on
motivating
the girl-child. Women in Business “WIMBIZ” organised
visits
to schools to motivate girls recently. The Ministry can partner
with
such organisations to achieve this goal.
Sponsoring and Enforcing Laws
The
Ministry of Women Affairs should sponsor laws to protect
women.
There are various international treaties that
are yet
to be domesticated into laws in Nigeria, although our
government
has ratified theses treaties. The Ministry needs to
push
for these treaties to be domesticated into our laws.
We have
laws in Nigeria that are never enforced. The Ministry
should
push for an intergovernmental agency comprising the
Ministries
for Women Affairs and Justice and the Nigerian
Police
to ensure adequate enforcement of our existing laws that
seek to
protect the female gender. Since the government
approved
such an agency for recovery of sums owed banks,
why
should there not be one to ensure the female
gender
is safe and protected? This intergovernmental
agency
should also ensure training amongst the police force on
handling
sexual assault and abuse cases and ensure their
prosecution.
The Federal Government has partnered
with
international developmental agencies to achieve
police
reform; the Ministry should push to ensure
women
and girl-child protection falls within the intended reform.
Naming and Shaming
The
Ministry should also push for naming and shaming of
convicted
pedophiles, like the rest of the world is doing.
It
should establish a portal listing the names, locations of
convicted
pedophiles available to the public in order to deter
perpetrators.
Conclusion
Madam,
the Ministry of Women Affairs should be the
watchdog
for women’s affairs, literally. We must all
understand
that the woman is usually responsible for bringing
up our
leaders and the people who comprise our society.
She
does this by protecting her family and feeding her children
with
values that they will stand by in adulthood. When the
girl-child
is scarred from infancy, how can she play this role
as a
woman? What will she have to give but the manifestations
of the
abuse and torment she had been dealt as a child
(unless
she is healed sometime during her life)? An abused
child
cannot play her role as a woman and thus help to ensure
we are
breeding responsible adults for our society. It is the
government’s
duty to protect our children from harm to
guarantee
the next generations of responsible adults.
It is
our government’s duty to build the confidence of
young ladies so they learn to believe in
themselves and
ascend
life’s ladders based on merit. It is our government’s
duty to
protect women in their homes so they can help the
government
by teaching their families values.The government
must
also ensure the respect of women in the work place and
enable
a level playing field for women to participate in all
spheres
of the economy. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs
is the
arm of the government to ensure the government
achieves
these goals for women.
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