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granted that is why I have promised myself that am expect from our committee. should be considered, we urge him to see that
going to give it my all to see that I succeed because . The women in the parliament commit- more women are on as members of boards when
at times, when they put you somewhere, there is Atee in the 9th National Assembly will like to appointments are being made; especially with the
an adage in my place that which says “they say you assure Nigerians that the dividends of democracy performance of the women in the cabinet. I give ku-
should do this and you fail to do it, they see you as will get to them especially the grass roots women, dos to all of them, they are working round the clock
not capable so they won’t entrust other responsibil- the vulnerable, the less privileged, the girl child out and they are not behind, more so everyone knows
ities to you since they have tried you“ I appreciate there, they should expect the best. Their interest women are loyal, committed, and dedicated, once
the leadership of the house for giving women the is going to be protected and the implementation you give us an assignment at any stage we pursue it
chance to chair some committees, we have put of every bill, every motion is going to be followed with all our heart to make sure it is being delivered
ourselves together to see that the best and utmost to the letter to ensure the implementation comes and I will like to say that, the budget is our goal, we
attention is given to these committees to ensure to fulfillment, and they will feel the impact that we want to follow the budget to the latter to ensure full
something good comes out at the end of the day. have and we are speaking for them, we are their implementation especially everything that has to do
And yes challenges are part of life, that’s the way voices, we are their eyes and we are their ears. with women and girls out there, as a committee we
we see it, that challenge are part of life and they are will follow it in every committee we have access to,
. What are those things you will do differ-
surmountable. it is in our standing order that everything that has
Qently?
What are these challenges that women to do with women and girl, we have the right to go
. I have spoken with the relevant security
f
Q ace in politics there to find out and oversight to ensure its done
Aagencies, the rape level that keeps increas-
Yes there are challenges and they are many. ing every day, must be brought if not to an end, a properly.
i
A ke I said earlier on our nature of politics is minimal level that we will hardly hear of it, we don’t . Many women do not want to get
L
masculine, so if you are calling as a chairman for want to hear of rape anymore in this country, this Qinvolved in politics because of the negative
meetings, they might think they have another is one of the things we can do to make the masses stereotype, what advice do you have for women as
meeting that they are been invited for by their male feel our presence here in the National Assembly. regards this.
counterparts so they might prefer to go to the male We plan to come up with a very good and vital . The mentality is changing, and as a
counterparts thinking what are women going to punishment, deterrent, if there is a very serious and Acommittee it is part of our plan to sensitize
say, sometimes it’s like that secondly, for you to severe punishment it will stop them from perpetu- them the more, we want to move round the country,
have the courage even among them, that you have ating these evil acts. In terms of business, we plan to very soon to sensitize these women to make them
an idea and say it out takes a lot of courage. The follow the appropriated money budgeted for that in understand that politics is interesting. It is a game,
contribution you want to make is meaningful, in fact the 2020 budget to ensure its fully implemented, it once you know the rules and regulations and you
it can make the country or the committee or the will help them especially in the area of training and don’t play down you are good to go.
assignment move forward, it will only take courage ment, we are women in parliament who want to see Q . Your parting words to Nigerian women?
establishing them. We are not just women in parlia-
to do that because out of about for example 30 . I will like to tell Nigerian wom-
members of the committee you might be the only the implementation of every policy that has to do Aen that this is our time, we have the priv-
woman there. It may be difficult for somebody to with women out there, with girls out there, if we can ilege now, we have the opportunity now, we have
stand up to that. Also there are environmental fac- do this differently then we will succeed in ensuring to synergize, we have to work together as a team,
tors that do not favor women, like in the northern the women get the dividends of democracy. For we have to work together to promote ourselves,
part of the country for a woman to have come out example the primary health care, you will see that we have to support ourselves in whatever circum-
from there as a politician takes a lot of sacrifice and plainly the primary healthcare facilities are usually stances, we have to stand by ourselves wherever we
it is a great and rare privilege because as woman patronized mostly by women, the pregnant women, find ourselves. Those in the private sector, those in
you are expected to be in the kitchen and at home the nursing mothers etc. They give them kits so, we politics, those in the public service, every sector in
taking care of the children or your office at most, are going to work round the clock to ensure that the three arms of government and is time for us to
Then there is the psychological effects for example, all these projects are fully implemented, especially come together as women. I want to add that for this
you get to the plenary and maybe other women are those in rural communities must feel the impact of committee which I chair that’s women in parliament
on oversight assignment or other engagements, the workings of the women in parliament. in the National Assembly, we are planning a Nation-
then you find out you are the only woman at the
. Ma, what is the committee going to do to al Women Summit before the end of this tenure to
plenary with about 300 men, for you blend to in,
Qensure 35% affirmative? bring every woman together from the three arms of
for you to get your feet balanced is difficult, but we
. We are not yet there but, we thank God government and beyond, including all stakeholders,
are getting there, we are not discouraged at all, we
Athat we will get there. I will like to charge our then we will reason together and come up with doc-
have promised ourselves that this time around we
president, President Muhammadu Buhari, and ument that would address these challenges before
are going to put in our best and we are going to see
urge him to include more women in his cabinet, if the 2023 general elections. We believe something
that the next assembly, that’s the 10th assembly
the cabinet is going to be reshuffled more women good is going to come out of the summit.
more women are on board. What should Nigerians
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