The Federal Government intends to work with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), traditional institutions, and other levels of government to implement the National Gender Policy.
Mrs. Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs, stated this on Tuesday in Sokoto during a two-day sensitization on the revised 2021-2026 National Gender Policy in the North-West Geopolitical Zone.
The minister, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Aliyu Shinkafi, stated that the revised National Gender Policy aims to promote gender equality, women empowerment, and social inclusion in all sectors of society.
The event was organized by the ministry and supported by the African Development Bank.
According to the minister, the policy addresses issues affecting women, children, and physically challenged people, and it provides equal opportunities for men and women.
“The Federal Republic of Nigeria’s National Gender Policy addresses gender equality, women’s empowerment, and social inclusion,” she added.
“Mr. President issued a proclamation calling on Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to incorporate gender into their budgeting systems. We must ensure that MDAs include gender in their budgeting to address equality, women empowerment, and social inclusion.”
She said that the effort was neither to subdue religious and traditional provisions but to strengthen individual and collective contributions toward nation-building.
The workshop, she says, will be used to disseminate the policy at the grassroots level, and the document will be translated into three major languages for better comprehension.
The Permanent Secretary of the Sokoto State Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Dantsoho, emphasized the importance of a community-based and participatory approach to policy implementation.
Dantsoho described the policy as a watershed moment for social inclusion, development, and equitable citizen participation.
Prof. Olabisi Aina, a Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, said the goal of the 2021 revised National Gender Policy is to establish a just society free of discrimination.
She said “the gender policy provides institutional guidelines to achieving a just and gender equitable society with women and men contributing
optimally and benefiting from national development.”
The consultant explained that more lessons have been learned about those who suffer in society, not just women but vulnerable that this is a gender policy.
“There are also men who suffer because of their situation. We have persons with disability, we have the elderly, we have orphans.”
