Sikiru M. Jimoh
13 December 2007
Abuja — West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) on Tuesday in Abuja began a three-day training programme on women's role in peace and security in West Africa.
Declaring the 3rd Annual Lesson Learned Conference open in Abuja, the Minister for Women Affairs, Hajiya Usman Bagudu, emphasised women's role in peace processes, lamenting that women were excluded from the process.
"Women also lack awareness and confidence. They lack the opportunity to be exposed and be skilfully involved in the in peace processes," she noted.
Represented by Mrs Grace Akpabio, the minister said that the programme will assess the role of women in peace and security in Nigeria in line with the Early Warning Mechanism for peace building.
She encouraged participants to use religious places as fora to reach out to the public on the role of women in peace building.
Speaking on Early Warning Mechanism, Mrs Iheme Florence, a director from the ECOWAS Commission, said that it was better to prevent war than to solve it, saying that mothers and children are the most affected in crisis situations.
"In all situations of war, women and children suffer most. Therefore the best way to prevent war is to pass information on situations that could lead to war across the neighbourhood in a civilized manner," she said.
"Women are capable of creating situations that are disquieting. Therefore they should be better peace-builders. Women have given advice to their husbands. They have used them in the villages fruitfully but their husbands receive the credit after the success. Although women have been part of peace process, it has been informal. They need to be formally drawn into the process," she added.
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