27 August 2008
Lagos — First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua, yesterday in Abuja pledged to facilitate the early passage of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Bill by the National Assembly.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria is one of the 185 countries that have ratified the UN Convention.
Turai Yar'Adua spoke at a two-day workshop on CEDAW implementation in Nigeria organised by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development with support from International Republican Institute (IRI) of the US.
Represented by the wife of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Hajia Kolo Kingibe, Turai Yar'Adua urged the workshop to devise strategies in support of the legislation.
"You should emphasise the importance of creating awareness, plans of action and strategies that would ensure gender mainstreaming in all legislation and national policies.
"Policy makers, lawmakers, the media and other stakeholders should be encouraged to appreciate their roles in addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS, poverty, illiteracy and all forms of discrimination," she said.
She expressed regrets that 30 years after Nigeria endorsed CEDAW, its domestication "cannot be achieved without the passage of the draft bill currently before the National Assembly".
She noted that the benefits of effective integration of women into the economy and the political space to contribute to national development should be focused.
The First Lady commended the Minister of Woman Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Saudatu Bungudu and the NGOs that represented Nigeria at the recent UN conference of CEDAW in New York.
"I was told of the professionalism exhibited by the delegation during the interactive sessions," she said, adding that the relationship between the administration and NGOs had improved. Bungudu, in her opening speech, said that in spite of constitutional provisions and human rights treaties ratified by Nigeria, gender-based discrimination persisted in the country.
She said discriminatory laws that were insensitive to the welfare and protection of women and girls existed and that "when gender based laws exist, enforcement may not be supportive".
She expressed the willingness of the ministry to encourage partners working for policies and programmes that would empower women and eliminate all forms of discrimination.
"Domesticating the CEDAW is the only way we can ensure a sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015," she added.
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