Lagos — Nigerians have been tasked to give women in different segments of the society a level playing field to exhibit their potentials to enable them attain the heights they want in life.

Akwa Ibom Governor, Chief Godswill O. Akpabio, gave the advice at the closing ceremony of a three-day ninth National Women Conference 2009 organised by a Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials on the theme rethink, Renew and Resolve Your Challenge, held at Expo Hall, Ocean View, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Akpabio said posterity would refer to the conference as a defining moment in the history of this nation, emphasising that "Let us with the momentum of this great convocation break down every barrier which had enclosed our womenfolk.

"The vaults of opportunity in our country should be open to all human kind irrespective of gender, tribe or race. We must begin to judge people based on the contents of their character and not their gender because you cannot keep someone down without staying down with him," he observed.

The governor told the participants to see themselves as goldfishes that have no hiding places and to allow their conduct to pass public scrutiny, noting "You should see yourself as representing womanhood and go ahead and break new frontiers for our women."

As a father, he reasoned, he would not want anybody to tell any of them that they could not be what they set their eyes and hearts on because of their gender.

Akpabio commended Governor Babatunde Fashola and his wife, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola for mounting the conference and for the great transformation and infrastructural development of Lagos State, noting that "If there are skeptics who wonder whether democracy is the ideal thing form of government for our country, let them come to Lagos or let them visit Akwa Ibom State and their doubts would dissolve forever".

Expatiating on the free, compulsory education of Akwa Ibom Government from primary to secondary school level, he hinted that 115 million children in the world are not in school and 94 per cent of them live in developing countries while 56 per cent of the figure are girls.

Speaking on his administration's free medical treatment for children under five years, pregnant women and the aged above 70 years, Akpabio disclosed that 48 developing countries have higher than 10 per cent infant mortality rates compared to less than one percent in developed countries while 70 per cent of deaths before the age of five are caused by diseases or malnutrition that are preventable in developed countries.

He spoke of the need by the privileged to wake up to the bugle call of providing for the downtrodden, adding "So we in Akwa Ibom are in the business of lifting people up. It is a business we can ill-afford to ignore. Not because it is morally right, but also because a society which fails to provide for the poor cannot protect its rich".

The governor, who called on the organizers of the conference to consider moving it to Akwa Ibom to savour the scenic beauty of the paradise which Lagos had lost to industrialization, donated N10 million to the conference.

The wife of Lagos State governor, Mrs. Fashola thanked Governor Akpabio for responding to their invitation and for the donation.