President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Abuja launched the High-Level Advisory Council on Support for Women and Girls, calling for upscaling of efforts for more inclusion of women in development policies and projects.
At the launch of Advisory Council, Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment Project and National Women’s Economic Empowerment Policy Dialogue, the President said the three initiatives will target reduction of poverty, and building of a sustainable economy.
“This is what we promised to all Nigerians – including our women and girls when our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), was elected in 2015. I am proud to say that our government has delivered over the past eight years.
“The well-being of women and girls remain a pivotal indicator of how well any Nation is doing in driving her developmental plans. I am proud of the tremendous progress that has been made to emphasize the needs of Nigerian women and girls into national economic planning, policy development, public programming, and public financial management,” he said.
The President said coordination had remained a key gap in the efforts to improve livelihoods and democratize opportunities for women and girls.
“I am proud that over the course of the Dialogue, in engagements stretching from Kebbi to Lagos, the Government of Nigeria has engaged the perspectives of over 100,000 Nigerians – including grassroots women, government actors, captains of industries, traditional rulers, religious leaders, technology-entrepreneurs to understand what works to drive women’s economic empowerment in Nigeria,’’ he said.
“This project delivers on a promise I made at the beginning of this administration, to uphold Article 18(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that aims to ensure “… equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels” by strengthening our educational institutions and facilities and promoting world class teaching, learning, research and community service.
“Thirdly, the Nigeria for Women Project Scale- Up which builds on the success of the first phase to provide greater opportunities for more women; especially in the rural areas. In Phase One of the Project, Nigerian women across the six pilot states saved over 3.1 billion naira and received almost 10 billion naira in disbursements to support their livelihoods.
“I am proud that a lasting legacy of this administration is that the Project will be scaled from six to at least seventeen states, and that up to 3.9 million women will benefit from the multidimensional aspects of the program,’’ he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen noted that the inauguration was evidence of President Buhari’s commitment to the empowerment of women and girls in Nigeria, adding that the President had in December 2022, approved the formation of a Presidential High Level Advisory Council on women’s support to women in Nigeria.
