Ihekweazu, Kebbi First Lady Seek More Women Participation in Governance

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The wife of the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Vivianne Ihekweazu and the First Lady of Kebbi State, Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, have canvassed for more space to be given to Nigerian women to contribute to governance.

Speaking at a special Arts Exhibition/Gala night organised by the Nigeria Health Watch in Abuja, at the weekend, Ihekweazu said Nigeria’s quest for economic recovery could be a difficult task without significant involvement of women in governance.

Ihekweazu therefore, urged Nigerians to support course of gender equity so as to secure the best for Nigerians.

She also drew the attention of government to the need to implement policies that would help check all forms of abuses to women in the country.

Citing series of challenges facing women in Nigeria, especially during pregnancy and child birth, Ihekweazu said women deserved more recognition and appreciation because they are making a lot of sacrifices for the society.

“Women participation is crucial to economic recovery because women constitute half of the country’s population. Facilitating and promoting women participation is needed in core areas. If we are committed to empowering women, it had to be a strategic decision, with full participation of the private sector,” she said.

Furthermore, Ihekweazu said the reason for hosting the event titled, “Celebrating Womanhood Art Gala” was to create awareness and highlight some of the challenges that women and the girl-child face through a story telling event.

“Today, we are working with the female association of artists in Nigeria and the Nigeria Gallery of Arts to create artistic work that really speak to issues and not just to celebrate women but to highlight their strength and challenges facing them in our society,” she added.

She said creative arts provide an opportunity to think about issues in a different way and helps in imagining things

Highlighting the need for women participation in the economy of the nation, Ihekweazu lamented that the voices of Nigerian women were not being heard enough in government whereas the female gender constitutes about half of the country’s population.

For instance, Ihekweazu pointed out that the present make-up the National Assembly is about 90 per cent men.

“The focus is to use the artistic work to highlight the travails and challenges of womanhood. We want to see a Nigeria where every woman has equal opportunity to participate in the affairs of the country,” she added.

On her part, the Wife of the Kebbi State Governor emphasised the need to give the education of the girl-child a priority.

“I am glad that they have chosen this time to celebrate womanhood and to combine the two to tell the story of the various challenges facing women in Nigeria,” she said.

Bagudu said the COVID19 pandemic has brought out all the weaknesses in the country health system so that they can be effectively addressed.

Major highlights of the evening event were speeches by gender advocates, inspection of art works, paintings, drama depicting the many travails the female gender in marriage and music renditions by a band.