By Palma Ileye
In seeking same opportunities, rights, obligations in all spheres of life, devoid of discrimination; where women’s needs and concerns were mainstreamed equitably into all sectors of National development, the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen has deployed a 3-Day high level capacity building on Revised National Gender Policy (2021 – 2026) for Security Personnels in Nigeria.
The capacity building, a 3-Day affair, is anchored on creating awareness for mainstreaming gender through the revised National Gender Policy.
Declaring open the capacity building workshop which is being held at Sandralia Hotel, Jabi, Abuja from, Monday, 22nd of May, 2022, Tallen inferred that the key objective was the need to work from a gender perspective, even though the key purpose remains addressing women’s rights issues.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shinkafi, She lamented that many women and girls still face discrimination on the basis of sex and gender; which gave rise to the review of the 2006 National Gender Policy.
She proffered the solution to this discrimination against women through the National Gender Policy which she said, “will go a long way to addressing traditions, customs, sexual stereotypes of social roles and cultural prejudice that militate against women’s full participation in National Development.”
She added that, “Women’s rights include the right to live free from violence and discrimination, the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the right to be educated, the right to own property, the right to vote and be voted for etc.”
The National Gender Policy is a policy that provides broad objectives and policy commitments as well as a detailed institutional framework for the operationalization of government’s commitments to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in its national vision of investing in people for better social and economic growth.
According to the Concept Note released by the Ministry, the Policy is intended to assist strategic institutions in particular and Nigerians at large, to recognize the dire need for addressing gender injustice and possible consequences which includes economic loss as a result of neglecting gender concerns.
National Gender Policy will thus be the tool to drive regulation of gender practice and compliance with performing standards that adhere to global best practice principles.
The 2021 – 2026 revised National Gender Policy, NGP, with its Strategic Implementation Framework has been developed and adopted with the objective, “to build a just society devoid of discrimination, where the needs and concerns of women, men, girls, boys, and other vulnerable groups are mainstreamed equitably into all sectors of national development.”
The Concept Note further revealed that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has sought to foster the revised National Gender Policy through “Gender Equality, Empowerment of Women and Social Inclusion, GEESI, Gender Norms, and Social Cultural Practices.”
This strategic approach seeks to enthrone GEESI at the grassroots by eradicating all discriminatory practices against women, girls, boys, Harmful traditional Practices, Sexual and Gender Base Violence, SGBV. It also recognizes the role of Men in GEESI Agenda and the need to transform Governance in the security sectors.
The Ministry has support from Africa Development Bank, AFDB, to commence the implementation of the Policy with the flag off of a Dissemination Workshop across the six (6) Geo-Political Zone. In the immediate, it is starting with the security sector to secure the buy-in of security personnels.
Not less than 100 participants drawn from the security personnel across the Federation; State Security Service, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Air Force, National Intelligence Agency, Nigeria Correction Service, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps are participating in the workshop.
