Election: Minister Vows To Empower Women

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWSD), Mrs Josephine Anenih, in Abuja on Tuesday vowed to empower women to participate fully in the  2011 general elections.

Josephine stated this at a one-day interactive session with  commissioners of women affairs and social development in the various states of the federation.

“It is my goal to pursue the ministry’s agenda, particularly that of empowerment of women and to facilitate their full participation in all spheres of life, particularly in politics as we draw close to the forthcoming general elections,’’ she said.

The minister said the drive for women’s empowerment was the expected role of the states ministries of women affairs and social development and the sectoral partners through the mechanism of gender mainstreaming.

“For women empowerment and gender mainstreaming to succeed as a strategy, the commitment of principal officials of the ministries of women affairs and sectoral agencies are paramount. “We must make the concern of men and women an integral part of our design and implementation of policies that would benefit them equitably,’’ the minister said.

She called for greater cooperation between the states and her ministry to impact positively on the lives of women and children.

“To be able to achieve these set objectives, officials at both state and federal levels are to be fully equipped to cope with the demends of designing, implementing, coordinating and monitoring of programes on gender in line with the internationally accepted models,’’ Anenih said.

On preparations for the 2011 general elections, Mrs Esther Adeyemi, Director, Department of Women Affairs, said that the ministry had set up a programme known as the “Nigeria Women Trust Political Forum”.

“With the directive of the minister, we have set up this forum to help enlighten and develop women for elective positions for the forthcoming general  elections and also  help to increase women’s  performance in various political positions,’’ she said.

She added that a summit would be organised in June to increase women’s participation in politics to 35 per cent in line with the gender policy.