George Onah
17 November 2008
About N650 million has been set aside to empower women in Rivers State, while all pregnant women would henceforth be given free medical attention in government-owned hospitals as 150 health centres are being built across the state.
Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who disclosed in Port Harcourt, while meeting with the National Council for Women Societies said women in the state would be encouraged to sustain their function effectively as watchdogs of the family.
He drew attention to the "enormous role mothers play in the society", observing that "if they are not empowered educationally and physically, the society will collapse. So, if we build the woman, we build the child and the society.
Rivers women are in the forefront of the government's plan because every person came to the world through women, so we have to see how we can solve their problems and ensure their well-being
On her part, National President of the society Hajia Ramatu Usman told the governor who was represented by his deputy Tele Ikuru that she was pleasantly surprised that the state was peaceful, "contrary to what we read in the media."
She praised the state government's support for women in the state, stating that the state branch which was "in slumber has now woken up. We know Rivers State is good at carrying women along, but now we ask for more so that women are placed in key positions of government."
On the Niger Delta issue, she posited that if women were given their rightful place and empowered, they would be in a better position to effect change in the lives of those youths who have decided to go astray. "We are agents of change", she said.
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