The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) has called on the Federal Government to ensure the school environment is safe for Nigerian children, in the face of increasing insecurity in the country.
They also expressed deep concern over cases of abduction of schoolchildren by insurgents in parts of the country.
This appeal was made by the National President of the Association, Comrade Ladi Bala recently when they paid courtesy visit to the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen in her office in Abuja .
The NAWOJ Boss expressed concern over the increasing number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, and disclosed that the National Secretariat of NAWOJ has drawn up programmes and activities around the key components of the Association’s mandate and solicited support towards their implementation.
She appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing women into key positions and asked for the appointment of more women into Boards of Commissions and Parastatals to meet up the 35 per cent benchmark of Affirmative Action.
NAWOJ she noted is proud to associate itself with the numerous achievements that have been recorded by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development under the watch of Dame Pauline Tallen.
Responding, the Honourable Minister for Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, assured that her Ministry would partner with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) on key areas to create a healthier and better society for women and children.
The Minister identified the key areas of collaboration as the girl-child education, gender based violence, and women participation in politics, noting that her Ministry’s mandates and that of NAWOJ are similar.
While encouraging women groups in the country to speak out against the rising cases gender based violence and other bills perpetrated against women and girls in the country, the Honourable Minister said, “We must educate the public, we must educate the young boys. We are grooming young people in schools to be ambassadors to protect the girl-child, to protect women from the evil ones within our society that are abusing innocent souls.
To her, effective representation of women in politics is another major assignment of her Ministry, saying without a good representation of women there will be no meaningful advancement for them.
She also stressed the need to raise the bar by ensuring that our women who are into small scale businesses are supported, trained and given necessary support to enable them support their families, because “empowering a woman has a multiplier effect. It’s empowering the family and society at large.” She concluded.