GANDUJE ADVOCATES FRAMEWORK FOR WOMEN DEVELOPMENT

GANDUJE ADVOCATES FRAMEWORK FOR WOMEN DEVELOPMENT

Kano state Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Gandaje has advocated for a blueprint that would provide sustainability frame work for development of womenfolk in the state.

He gave the advice when he declared open the 1^st Kano Women Development and Strategic Empowerment Forum organized by the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development held at Africa House, Government House, Kano, on Tuesday.

The governor noted that women, especially in developing countries like Nigeria are exposed to among other things, poverty, violence, discrimination and harassment, making it impossible for them to contribute meaningfully to national development.

“We must approach these problems holistically, systematically and in a way that it is measurable and favorable for our womenfolk. But a crucial part of the solution is increasing their access to education, economic and social opportunities in line with their lifestyles and cultures”. 

The governor, therefore, charged participants at the conference to come up with educational, preventable and protective measures that would be adopted to promote and protect the dignity of womenfolk in the society. 

Saying the state government is worried over the increasing rate of divorce in the state, leading to broken families and its attendant consequences, the governor announced that his administration would soon enact a legislation that would make divorce easier said than done.

Dr Ganduje added that "there is no better time  to do this conference than now because the problems in women are widening, deepening and becoming unbearable," hoping that the participants would address issues of prostitution, street hawking,  drug abuse and related menace bedeviling them for a better tomorrow.

He assured that government would welcome all recommendations that would make a sustainable action plan for women empowerment in order to bridge the wide gap between the rich and the poor. 

Earlier, the state Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Barr. Zubaida Damakka Abubakar explained that her ministry organized the summit with a view to finding lasting solution to problems clogging the progress of women not only in the state but in the nation at large, adding that many scholars and Civil Society Organizations were invited to give their input in the one – day event.

Resource persons who spoke during the event including Dr. Hadiza Galadanchi, Barr. Hussaina Adamu Aliyu and Williams Otabil from Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, FIDA and Buy Nigeria Imitative, a subsidiary of Ministry of Trade and Investment respectively, thanked Kano state government for taking the bold step to identifying address the problems of women in the society.

 

Halilu Ibrahim Dantiye, fnge, mni

Director General, 

Media and Communications,

to the Exec. Gov. of Kano state, 

15/9/2015