The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) has urged stakeholders to expand the democratic space for full participation and representation of women in Nigeria.
Ms Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), made the call on Friday when she paid a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule at Alausa, Ikeja.
Lamptey said investing in and empowering women and girls deserved to be prioritised for the purpose of promoting sustainable peace and development in the country.
The country representative commended the efforts of the Lagos State Government at ameliorating the plight of women by creating space, access and opportunities for them to actualise their potential and contribute meaningfully to national development.
“ The UN Women work on policies and programs to expand women’s voice, leadership and participation; women’s economic empowerment; preventing violence against women and girls and increasing women’s leadership in peace, security and humanitarian response.
“In Nigeria, we have a five-year plan which focuses on political, social and economic empowerment of women, as we attend to the needs of women and girls in the North East.
“We are calling on the state government to key into this plan as a pacesetter in the advancement of women’s political representation in Nigeria.
“We will also be engaging the private sector too to drive the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and increased women political representation in Nigeria from the current six per cent, ” she said.
Responding, Adebule said that the state government had accorded high priority to issues concerning women and girls, and was willing to further collaborate with UN women in the effort to uplift them.
She said that women needed to be given the opportunity to impact positively on the family, environment and society by partaking in policy formulation.
“Women are passionate and creative if given the enabling environment and support.
“Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode led-administration recognises the role of women in the social, economic and political sector of the state, which is why the government is doing all it can to protect the rights of women and girls.
“In terms of gender parity, we are still not there, but the state government is making policies and programmes that would help women take the centre stage in development efforts,” Adebule said. (NAN)
