Stakeholders have called for stronger accountability, grassroots ownership and a costed implementation plan to ensure Nigeria’s proposed National Gender Policy 2027–2032 translates commitments into measurable development outcomes for women and girls.
They made the call at a side event organised by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in collaboration with the Policy Innovation Centre during the Gender and Inclusion Summit, GS-26, in Abuja.
The stakeholders urged the government to establish implementation committees across federal, state and local government levels, supported by a costed action plan and robust monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress from policy design to delivery.
They stressed that lessons from previous gender policies must inform the new framework, calling for a detailed assessment of institutional, political, financing, coordination and ownership gaps that constrained implementation.
“Let’s do a drill-down of why those policies did not work,” a participant said, urging stakeholders to move beyond the broad attribution of past shortcomings to poor implementation.
Participants also demanded a comprehensive dissemination strategy to take the policy beyond government offices and development circles to communities, particularly women at the grassroots.
They recommended translating the policy into simple and local languages while deploying the media, National Youth Service Corps members, community structures and social media influencers to drive awareness, participation and ownership.
Stakeholders stressed that the policy must reflect the diverse realities of Nigerian women, including those in rural communities and informal employment, older women, caregivers and persons with disabilities.
They called for stronger attention to emerging digital threats, including cyberbullying, sextortion, data privacy violations and artificial-intelligence-enabled abuse, while ensuring women and girls are empowered to shape digital technologies and participate in the future of work.
Participants questioned the grouping of education, economic empowerment, skills and digital inclusion, suggesting that education could stand alone because of its pivotal role in technology, science, skills development and economic participation.
They further advocated clearer treatment of sexual and gender-based violence, cultural and creative expression, accessibility and universal design as part of the emerging gender agenda.
Presenting the proposed framework, Mr Mike Imafidor said the eight conceptual pillars cover governance, institutions and systems; economic empowerment, education, skills and digital inclusion; leadership, decision-making and representation; health, reproductive rights and wellbeing; peace, security, climate and humanitarian response; harmful norms, intersectionality and inclusion; and strategic communication.
He stressed that the pillars were “not cast in stone,” inviting stakeholders to identify gaps, recommend mergers or propose standalone themes.
Imafidor said policy development would involve evidence gathering, institutional and stakeholder mapping, consultations at federal, regional and local levels, thematic drafting, validation, adoption, dissemination and capacity building.
He added that the country gender profile would provide the evidence base for the policy, while stakeholders could submit memoranda, data and proposed indicators to strengthen accountability and enable progress tracking.
Stakeholders say the success of the 2027–2032 policy would ultimately depend on turning commitments into funded actions, securing ownership across sub-national governments and maintaining accountability from policy formulation to effective last-mile implementation.
They said ownership must begin before policy adoption.
