The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Social Development and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, has said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to the socio-economic and political upliftment of Nigerian women.
The minister said the All Progressives Congress (APC) government under President Buhari will continually muster the political will to combat all issues confronting women and the challenge of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the country.
Farouk spoke in Ado Ekiti on Thursday during the commissioning of the palatial 208- bed Transit Home and Skills Acquisition Centre for victims of GBV, a facility built by the federal government in partnership with Ekiti State.
Applauding the project, the Minister said Ekiti was lucky to be one of the few states that benefited from the facility that can turn around the fortunes of women, particularly the GBV survivors.
She said the facility contains a creche, administrative block, a 250 seater conference hall, 200 rooms self-contained apartments and skill acquisition centre for the training of the GBV survivors.
“The FG will continue to partner sub-national governments to prioritise issues relating to women and girls. Mr President has approved money for the growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic, which affected women disproportionately.
“Women have a special place in President Buhari’s administration and heart and more resources are invested to empower women and enable them achieve their full potentials to support their husbands and educational development of their children. This will automatically reduce domestic violence at homes”.
Also describing women empowerment as a critical aspect of the Sustainable Development Goals, Governor Kayode Fayemi, said the state government has launched a Sexual Assault referral clinic, as one of the critical ways to attend to GBV victims.
Fayemi said the Clinic will offer a series of services, including medical, legal and counselling, to alleviate the sufferings of the women who are predominantly the victims of GBV in the country.
“We will continue to demonstrate our political will against all forms of abuses against women and children. At the level of the governors’ forum, we will wage a relentless war against GBV across the states. We have started this by declaring an emergency against GBV across the 36 states of the federation.
“Abuses against women is a breach and violation of human rights, because of the attendant emotional, medical and social consequences. I appreciate my boss, President Muhammadu Buhari for taking issues of women very serious”.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, commended the state government on its fierce battle against GBV.
The former Lagos State Deputy Governor said: “The SDGs cover critical areas like economy, social and environmental and other sectors that directly affect the women in the society.
“The adoption of 17 SDGs globally was targeted at ensuring participatory democracy and achieving gender equality world over. For SDGs to be sustainable, our society must be free of discrimination. It is wrong to keep women at home and make them suffer while men that abuse their wives are allowed to move about. We must also give women the opportunity to exercise their rights.
“This facility is designed to help GBV survivors and give them succour after trauma as a sense of belonging. The FG is partnering with States for the implementation of the SDGs programmes. I appeal to Governor Fayemi to continue to prioritise issues that relate to women in Ekiti.
“We implore Mr Governor to continue to empower women spiritually, economically, politically, and socially so that they can support their husbands and nurture their children”.
