Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has called for partnerships between women and men to advance women’s leadership and inclusion.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim made the call when she received the 33rd President and President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, on a courtesy visit.
She said her declaration of “Women O’Clock” on assumption of office had coincided with women emerging in leadership, stressing the need for collaboration.
She noted that since the declaration, “we’ve seen many firsts. We’ve seen the president of the institute of stockebrokers, the very First woman, we’ve seen that of the insurance, we’ve seen many many women come out, rise and continue to rise and I am so excited to see this happen. We just have to align so that we can take advantage of this support that we are getting and also strengthen the force for the SheForShes.”
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The Minister reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to strengthening legal instruments and frameworks for women and children.
“We will continue to refresh and strengthen legal instruments. When we arrived after doing a total scan of the environment we realised that we were behind by over 250 policies and guidelines frameworks and we started with 40,” the Minister said.
She said the Ministry would continue to work with relevant institutions to ensure that policy commitments translated into stronger protection and opportunities for women and children.
Speaking, Badejo-Okusanya expressed admiration for the Ministry’s progress under the leadership of MinisterSulaiman-Ibrahim, particularly in child rights and access to justice, and pledged the NBA’s collaboration in advancing its initiatives.
“Permit me express My personal admiration for all the work that the Ministry is doing under your watch. I want to thank you because we know that it is not an easy thing to shift views, shift opinions and galvanise but the results at the end of the day will be worth all the efforts that you’re making the country, the nation, the economy is the better for it because no matter how you slice it, men think like men and women think like women,” Badejo-Okusanya said.
The NBA President was accompanied on the visit by members of the newly inaugurated executives and the NBA secretariat.
