Following the inclusiveness of a good number of women and youths in governance under Kaduna State’s Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, the Women Connect Initiative (WCI) and Gender Policy Unit, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with support from RiseUp are calling for a structure that would guarantee its all-inclusive governance drive by reviewing the state’s Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Policy (KADGESI).
In 2017, Governor El-Rufai’s led administration envisioned a state where women, children, young people and persons with disabilities and all socially excluded groups enjoy equitable opportunities and are protected from violence by putting GESI policy in place to help realise this vision.
Since that time, the Governor has demonstrated that it is possible to have women and youths at the decision-making level by way of having a female Deputy joint ticket, about six female commissioners and others as heads of agencies, making him the first governor to do so in Northern Nigeria and second in the whole country after Lagos state.
It is against this background that the above mentioned groups organised a 2-day capacity strengthening workshop for media executives in Kaduna State to help drive advocacy for the amendment of the KADGESI policy through precision reportage of this interest.
Speaking at the workshop held in Kaduna, the Coordinator, Advocacy for Review of KADGESI, Victor Ihidero described the advocacy as “Imperative” because Kaduna State under this political dispensation has done so much when it comes to social inclusion.
“The government of Governor El-Rufai has proven to be the most gender-sensitive in northern Nigeria and we don’t want to take that for granted. As a result, we are looking at the possibility of reviewing the KADGESI policy especially to put an implementation of gender equity in a structure for continuity”.
“We are looking at this administration to put that structure in place that will allow women to run for elective offices. We want a document that will consolidate the achievements of Governor El-Rufai so that by the time he leaves office, anyone coming up can see that there is a working document for him to follow”, Ihidero noted.
Director, Gender Policy Unit and Head, Department of Sociology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Dr Mrs Eugenia Chika Akpa noted that several good policies are left in papers without implementation while in some cases there is partial implementation.
“Kaduna State is doing well because it has a woman as Deputy governor and others in appointive positions. We are talking of including everybody. The men, the women, the youth, the people with disabilities in governance so each plays their unique role to have inclusive governance”, she said.
According to the Program Director, WCI, Hajiya Murjanatu Sulieman Shika, there is the need to capture some identified gaps in the existing GESI policy which made it obsolete, and that is the reason they brought critical stakeholders together, including journalists in order to have the policy reviewed and implemented.
One of the resource persons at the workshop and Executive Director, Africa Media Development Foundation, Iliya Kure told participants to use their respective platforms to advocate for the improvement of GESI policy in Kaduna state.
“We are here to sensitise and train media practitioners on how to use their respective media platforms available to them to advocate for improvement in the GESI policy and space in Kaduna State.
“Journalists need to call for a review of this policy which is obsolete because there are a number of things that need to be captured in the policy. We also train the media on how to call for putting a structure in place that can help in the implementation of the GESI policy and to pay attention to the call for the government to allocate resources and funding for the implementation of the policy in the state.“
PIAK
