By Justina Auta
The Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) on Thursday in Abuja, says Nigeria needs adequate legal commitment to gender equality and also strong political will to boost representation of women in governance.
Chief Executive Officer, NWTF, Ms Mufuliat Fijabi, made this known in a statement made available to the News of Nigeria (NAN) ahead of the International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration.
IWD which is celebrated every March 8 is a global day set as by the UN to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
Fijabi said the IWD 2020 theme, “I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights” was apt, adding that it aligns with the UN women’s new multi-generational campaign and generation equality.
According to her, the platform also provides a platform to amplify the concerns of women and girls, especially in addressing gender power gap and other forms of discrimination that harm all.
She, however, decried the low representation of women in governance and gender parity, which she attributed to lack of political will and inadequate legal commitment.
She said: “Nigeria lacks adequate legal commitment to gender equality.
“Also, lack of political will on provisions within existing National Gender Policy or other gender related policy
documents and commitments makes it difficult to hold governance structures accountable for the recurrent low women representation in governance.”
She, therefore, explained that the NWTF engages equitable citizens’ participation to enable it close gender gap in governance, leadership and politics.
“ We are consequently driven by the tenets of general equality which are rooted within a collaborative system that generates knowledge and pool resources towards accelerated result on fair representation of both genders at all levels of decision making processes.”
While calling on other stakeholders to bridge gender gap especially in governance, the NWTF boss reaffirmed the fund’s commitment towards women’s empowerment. (NAN)
